


A Growing Menace

by EvilOtter



Series: A New Darkness [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:06:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25291369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilOtter/pseuds/EvilOtter
Summary: Harry Potter's grandchildren have come to Hogwarts!  What adventures await them and what is the menace that many feel surrounding the ancient school of witchcraft and wizardry?
Series: A New Darkness [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1832233
Kudos: 1





	1. Adventures Ahead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albus and Elizabeth's twins prepare to follow the footsteps of their parents, but will they face any of the challenges that their parents and grandparents did?

The girl shrieked as the winged object flew past her, barely missing her nose. Laughter behind her confirmed her suspicions and she whirled on the garden bench to see her brother with one member of the pair of practice wands in his hand. Dropping the book that she had been reading she raced from where she was sitting to enter pursuit of her sibling as he raced away from her, laughing as he went. They tore across the yard, remembering to avoid trampling their mother’s favorite plants, and continued the chase while their parent watched them from within the house.

As memories of being that age, just having turned eleven, ran through her mind the adult smiled as she watched her offspring. Her son and daughter were close and not just in age, her son only a few minutes older than his sister, but they got along well and each could count on the other as a friend. She smiled again as she thought about what was to come all too soon.

 _‘The owls will come soon,’_ she thought, _‘the owls will come and then we will have a trip to make to Diagon Alley.’_

The children, squealing as they went, raced by the window again and Elizabeth Potter smiled as she wondered where the energy that she had possessed at that age had gone. The twins had certainly kept her and Albus busy since their births and the witch wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Parenthood had proven to be a blessing as well as more than a bit of fun and adventure and Elizabeth had often wished that they had been able to have more children. A second pregnancy that had gone terribly wrong had rendered the thought of more children impossible and had left both she and her husband anguished. In the end they had resolved themselves to raising the children that they did have as best they could, they succeeded in this endeavor.

They hadn’t been alone in this endeavor as grandparents, aunts (both biological and adopted) and uncles, not to mention favorite staff members from Hogwarts, had helped them to rear the children. Now those children would be attending Hogwarts themselves and their mother hoped that they would have an easier and less eventful time than she had experienced. At least she would be there to keep an eye on them as Professor of Elven Magical Studies.

Abruptly the door to the room swung open and her daughter hurtled into the room with her brother in hot pursuit. They stopped abruptly as they encountered their mother.

“Emma Victoria Potter! Sebastian Augustus Potter! What have I told you about running in the house and slamming doors?”

“Sorry, Mom, but Sebastian was chasing me with a Dung Bomb and he was going to throw it at me,” her daughter announced.

“And where did you get a Dung Bomb, young man?”

Sebastian looked at his mother, who stood with her hands on her hips, before lowering his gaze and answering.

“Uncle Ron gave it to me when they were here last.”

“Take it up to your room and put it away or I will make you take it outside and throw it at that old tree out there.”

“Yes, Mom,” the boy answered with disappointment evident in his voice. He turned and walked towards the stairs which led to the upper level of the home, but not before attempting a sneaky sticking out of his tongue at his sibling. Abruptly his tongue was stuck in place, unable to move out farther or retreat back into his mouth. He glanced at his mother in horror and saw the wand that she held in her hand.

“Don’t make me go to the next step, Sebastian. I have some brand new soap that would taste worse than Pain-B-Gone if I have to put some of it on your tongue. Am I understood?”

Sebastian nodded furiously and was relieved when he could get his tongue to obey his commands to reenter his mouth. Elizabeth slipped her wand into her robes and watched as her son vanished up the stairs to put the offending item away. Then she turned to her daughter.

“Where is the book that you were reading, Emma?”

“I dropped it in the garden, Mom.”

Elizabeth sighed at her child’s treatment of the book, one that she had cherished as a child her daughter’s age, as she drew her wand and cast the charm.

“ _Accio Book!_ ”

Nearly instantly the book flew into the room via an open window and the girl caught it easily. Then the child looked up into her mother’s eyes before lowering her head in apology.

“I’m sorry, Mom, it won’t happen again.”

“See to it that you don’t or I won’t let you read it again. You need to learn to take care of things that do not belong to you. It won’t be long before you and your brother are at Hogwarts and they definitely do not allow things like that there.”

“Do you think that we’ll be sorted into Gryffindor like you and Daddy?”

“Emma,” Elizabeth answered after a sigh, “it doesn’t matter which House you are sorted into. They are all equally good and all produce wonderful witches and wizards.”

“But I read that Slytherin is a bad House.”

Elizabeth looked at the little girl before smiling and then answering as she hugged her child.

“Emma, they are all good Houses. The book that you read was written a long time before the school came together as one to face a threat. Somehow, this time, the unity has endured and the old quarrels are over.”

“But could they come back?”

“Only if we let them, Em,” Elizabeth replied as she looked into the blue eyes of the girl with her own, “only if we let them.”

A POP outside the house announced an Apparation and a moment later Albus stepped into the home to be greeted by a squealing child that hurled herself into the arms of her male parent. He hugged his daughter tightly as they exchanged affection and then released her, but not before delivering a kiss to her forehead and tousling the blonde hair above it.

“This is what I call a greeting, getting hugs and kisses from two beautiful women,” he announced as he kissed his wife.

“Did you have a good day?”

“Yeah, I did, we managed to bag the last of the Death Eaters that were following Jonathan. He walked right into the trap and didn’t see it coming at all.”

“Did you stupefy him, Daddy?” Emma asked as she stayed near her parents and listened with wide eyes to their conversation.

“I didn’t, Em, your grandpa did.”

“Grandpa did it?”

“He did, the wizard ran right into it and got flattened.”

Emma smiled as she thought about it and then stepped forward to hug her parents again before looking up to speak.

“I love you!”

“And we love you, Em,” Elizabeth answered as she returned the hug to her offspring. “Now, why don’t you go play until dinner is done or read that book that you borrowed?”

The girl nodded and then giggled as her mother landed a light swat on her backside. She skipped out of the room to read the book that she held as her parents watched her retreat.

“She’s you all over again, Beth,” Albus whispered as they hugged. “You can’t deny it. I’ve seen the pictures of you at that age. She looks just like you and she acts like you too.”

Elizabeth smiled as she thought about her children and then answered her husband.

“I just hope that she and Sebastian have an easier time than I did.”

“They will, Beth, their mother is a professor there to keep an eye on things and make certain of it. Have you heard, Beth, are Professors Leeds and McGonagall still going to be on staff there this term?”

“As far as I know they are,” she answered with a smile at the sound of the pet name that Albus continued to use for her.

A sudden bolt of energy in the form of their son dashed across the room to hug his father and Albus took the child into an embrace while Elizabeth watched and then responded to an earlier statement by her husband.

“And he is definitely your son! He looks too much like you to belong to anyone else.”

She leaned down to kiss her child on top of the head before ruffling his hair and swatting him gently as she had his sister.

“Dinner won’t be ready for a bit, go read or do something other than bug your sister.”

Sebastian grinned and then, after being released, vanished into the living room where his sister reclined in a chair as she read the book. A few moments later, as Elizabeth and Albus hugged, a distress call from their daughter came from the living room.

“Mom! Dad! Sebastian is picking on me again!”

Both of them sighing, the parents parted as Albus walked towards the scene of conflict.

‘ _There he goes_ ,” Elizabeth mused, ‘ _always an Auror_.’

Two Days Later

Emma, still clad in her pajamas, looked up sleepily from the breakfast table as the owl flew into the room to drop an envelope with green writing in front of her before fluttering to her brother, who was in the living room, to do the same for him. The owl was offered a treat, which was gratefully accepted, and the children watched as it exited the house before examining the envelopes and squealing their excitement.

“They came, Mom,” Emma squealed after rising and running to her parent. “Our letters from Hogwarts came! Can we go to Diagon Alley?”

“Don’t you think that you should open the envelope, Em?”

The girl opened the envelope and unfolded the parchment within before beginning to bounce in excitement as she squealed after reading the letter.

“I got accepted to Hogwarts, Mom! Can we go to Diagon Alley today?”

Elizabeth smiled as she listened to her daughter and then looked up as her equally excited son entered the room with the same question issuing from his mouth.

“I suppose we can, but you two really need to finish your breakfast and get dressed before we go anywhere.”

The siblings hurried to finish their meals and then raced upstairs to their rooms to dress for the day. Their mother smiled again as her children vanished and she thought about the adventures that they would have at the school. She glanced back at the dishes that they had deposited in the sink as the brush cleaned them by itself and then the faucet came on to rinse them. Once they were cleaned, the dishes floated to the drain board to stack neatly or land upright in the flatware strainer to dry.

_‘What is school at Hogwarts going to be like for you two?’_

She stepped into the living room to watch as her traveling cloak floated out of the small closet. Fastening it around her shoulders she waited for the sound of two excited eleven year olds running down the stairs. Although she knew that she had had a life before their births, it was hard to remember a time before they existed. The years since Hogwarts, the years since the final defeats of her brother and father, had not always been pleasant. The most unpleasant of times had been the death of her sister, Anne.

They had become incredibly close after the twins had been born and things had become as Elizabeth had always hoped that they would. The women had enjoyed traveling to Diagon Alley and other places to shop and Anne had accompanied her sister to Hogwarts to see if the school was everything that she had been led to believe that it was. She had been pleasantly surprised as she walked through the castle with her sister.

It had all come to an end when one of Jonathan Beales-Armstrong’s followers had made an attack and killed the wrong sister as Anne stepped into the path of the curse that had been cast. Elizabeth, responding in normal form, had turned the attacker into a gibbering mess that lay on the ground. His mind had been completely and permanently erased by the terrible vengeance of the young woman and now spent all of his days in the ward within Azkaban reserved for those in a state such as his. He was the final one of her brother’s followers to experience what so many had before him, a relentless assault from an enraged Legilimens.

For all of the years that they had been at odds and had rarely spoken, Elizabeth found her sister’s funeral one of the most terrible times in her life. Only the fact that she now was a mother had prevented her from going onto a crusade to rid the world of those of the same kind of people as had stolen her sister from her. The knowledge that she had two children that needed her had held her at bay.

The sound of feet running down the stairs brought her out of her thoughts and she turned to see her daughter racing in hot pursuit of her brother. Elizabeth watched the pair with irritation and the twins came to a halt as they caught the look of disapproval on their mother’s face.

“What have I told you two about running down the stairs? I have half a mind to not take you to Diagon Alley! Is that what you want?”

“No, Mom,” they answered in near unison.

“Then slow down, especially on the stairs. Not even Pain-B-Gone will cure a broken neck after you fall down the stairs.”

The children nodded and then hurried to grab their cloaks before their mother stepped towards the mantle to take the pot of Floo Powder into her hand and offer each child a handful.

“Do you remember how to do this?” she asked her offspring.

Two heads nodded and Emma stepped forward to duck under the mantel piece before speaking and casting the powder downward.

“Diagon Alley!”

The girl vanished as a large blast of cool green flames enveloped her and, once they had subsided, her brother followed suit. Elizabeth looked around the quiet room and then vanished with a POP to reappear between her children in the already bustling lane that was Diagon Alley. She looked down at her children and then they started out to buy what her young would need for classes.

“We need owls, Mom,” Emma announced.

“I want a bat!” Sebastian countered.

“Ick!” the girl responded. “Why would you want a bat?”

“I want it because you don’t want me to have one!”

“All right, you two,” their mother interrupted. “Robes first, and then we will go from there.”

Madame Malkin’s was already swarming with children who, like the twins, had received their letters and the trio had to wait until a clerk found them. Elizabeth smiled as the man approached her group and he returned the smile.

“Elizabeth Blackwell!”

“Well, it’s Elizabeth Potter now,” she replied.

“Of course it is, but I remember selling robes to you when you were going to school at Hogwarts and now you are a professor. Are these some of your students?”

“Actually,” she answered with a smile, “these are my children. This is Sebastian and this is Emma, they are starting at Hogwarts this term.”

“They look a lot like you, Elizabeth.”

Emma giggled lightly at the comment and then stepped forward as her mother nudged her.

“I guess that we shall start with the young lady,” the clerk announced as his tape unrolled itself and began to measure the child. Emma stood with eyes wide as it occurred and then relaxed then it returned to the hand of its owner and robes floated from a rack to the table where they would be altered to fit her. The little girl stepped down off of the stool that she had been standing on and was replaced by her brother. She watched as the tape began to measure him and snuggled against her mother while it took place. Elizabeth ran her fingers through the fair hair of the girl while she waited for her turn.

The process for Elizabeth wasn’t as long as it had been for the twins, she was done growing and could select from robes that were in her size. All that they were concerned about was making certain that the clothing was not too long. While Professor McGonagall had always favored robes that were green, Elizabeth tended to like to wear robes that were the color of the wood that her wand was made of.

The excited children hurried to the counter as their robes arrived there, finished and ready to wear. They watched with fascination as the robes were packaged as though by invisible hands before the bundles were handed to them. Elizabeth accepted her own bundle and then slipped it, as well as those belonging to her children, into her bag. Then she looked at the twins.

“Let’s get those books.”

Emma grinned, Sebastian groaned and Elizabeth smiled secretly at their very different responses. Her parents and grandparents had often commented on the similarity of attitude that Emma had to books to that which her mother had, and still did, possessed. Sebastian wasn’t as enthusiastic.

They were stepping into Flourish and Blott’s when Elizabeth collided with another customer and the atmosphere in the building chilled by several degrees.

“Mrs. Potter, how good of you to not show your elders due respect!”

Lucius Malfoy fixed the witch with an angry glare as she refused to back down.

“Mister Malfoy, as my children are present, I shall refrain from telling you exactly what I think of that statement! Certainly, unlike a fine wine, you have not improved with age; rather I think that you have gone rancid. Not that it is much of a change because you have always been distasteful as well as rather nauseating.”

“How dare you…”

“Rather easily where you are concerned, Lucius, it actually feels rather natural. Now, if you don’t mind, my children are here to get their books for school and I don’t have the time to spar with you.”

Elizabeth nudged her children past the aged wizard, who was trembling with rage, and led them to the area where they could find the books that they needed. Then, after handing them their lists, she stepped back to watch as they sought what they needed. A sudden light impact from behind caught her attention and she turned to see a small girl with strawberry blonde hair looking up at her and grinning.

“Sarah?”

Lily’s daughter hugged her aunt and giggled as her hair was tousled while Elizabeth and Lily smiled at each other.

“Please tell me that they didn’t get their letters,” Lily pled as she looked at her niece and nephew while they searched for school books.

“They did, just this morning, hard to believe isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is. I still remember holding them right after they were born.”

“Like I was holding this one right after she was born,” Elizabeth answered as she hugged the child again.

“Her and her sisters,” Sarah’s mother replied.

“Where are Sophia and Samantha?”

“With Mom and Grandma, they didn’t want to come to Diagon Alley with us.”

Elizabeth ruffled the hair of the child once again and then leaned down to kiss the child on top of the head.

“You are getting tall, Miss Sarah, I don’t have to bend down as far as I used to when I wanted to do that.”

“I’ll be ten soon, Aunt Elizabeth.”

“I know, and then that year will pass and you’ll be eleven and off to Hogwarts with your cousins.”

“Yay!”

“Have you seen Malfoy?” Lily asked.

“I ran into Lucius if that’s what you mean.”

“Yeah, well, Scorpius is here too with his kids.”

“I doubt that they have gotten any more pleasant than they have been in the past,” Elizabeth answered. “I had hoped that things would get better once he got married to Olivia.”

“I still don’t understand what happened, Elizabeth. I mean, he gave you and Albus his blessing and now he acts like this. His kids aren’t any more pleasant than he was.”

“Tell me about it, he went nearly mental last term when I had to take points from Slytherin because of Abraxas’ behavior. It was kind of warranted, I mean, he shoved a kid during an argument and the other student almost went down some stairs. He would have if I hadn’t used my wand to stop it. Professor Leeds was right in sending Abraxas to Isolation for five days. After that, things just got worse, Scorpius, Draco and Lucius all sent letters to the Ministry demanding my removal and went crazy when Minister Bellins refused it.”

They were interrupted by Emma rushing up to her aunt and hugging Lily. The adult hugged the smiling child as she looked down at her.

“Do you have all of the books that you need for school, Emma?”

“Yeah, Aunt Lily, they’re over on the counter. I think that a ghost took them, they just floated up there.”

“It’s just a charm that they use here to help people,” Elizabeth informed her daughter.

“It would have been better if it had been a ghost,” the girl answered with disappointment.

Sebastian joined his parent as she spoke to his sister. Elizabeth looked at her son questioningly.

“Did you find all of the books that you need?”

The boy nodded and joined his parent as she and the group that they were with walked to the counter to pay for what they were buying. Soon two identical piles were wrapped and joining the bundles already in Elizabeth’s bag.

“Would you like to join us at the cauldron shop, Lily? The apothecary is next after that.”

“No, we have to get going. Maybe next time we can make a day of it.”

The women hugged and then hugged the children that swarmed to their aunt before Lily and her daughter vanished with a POP.

“Let’s go.”

Elizabeth led her children from shop to shop and finally arrived at Ollivanders where they joined a line of students waiting to buy their wands. She glanced around the shop and remembered the day that she had gotten her wand. A look upwards revealed the place where the box that it had been in had come from and she felt a bit of sorrow that that part of her life had ended. Now a new chapter was beginning and she knew that once again things would never be the same. There was no going back.

Alivaire Ollivander finally approached the trio and regarded the latest of children to stand before him. Sebastian stepped forward before his sister could act and soon was standing while the tape that the man carried measured him, sometimes in the oddest places, before returning to the hand of its owner.

The boy stood nearly impatiently while several boxes were brought forward so that he could try their contents. It was not long before a wand chose him and he smiled broadly as he watched it being placed back into its box. He stepped back to his mother’s side as she nudged his sister to step forward.

Emma balked, almost tearfully, as her mother urged her to allow herself to be measured. Normally the courageous one, the girl was almost trembling and Elizabeth looked down at her child with surprise.

“What’s wrong, Emma?”

The girl shook her head silently as the wizard approached her and then the tape began to do what it needed to. Emma stood silently as the process continued and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when it was over and the tape was back in the hand of the man.

Elizabeth watched as the man regarded the girl in front of him before nodding and then walking back to a stack of boxes that seemed to be newer than most. He pulled one of the boxes out of the bottom of the stack and then approached the child.

“This one, I think, shall be just the one that you need.”

Emma watched as the wand was lifted out of the box and then handed to her. She looked at it strangely and then at her mother before looking at the wand again. It felt strange in her hand, not unpleasantly strange, but strange just the same. A moment later, she felt the warm tingling in her hand and arm that told that the wand had chosen her. To be certain, she waved it gently and was rewarded with a shower of glowing sparks which were not angry looking at all, but rather celebratory.

“Did it really choose me?”

Ollivander smiled at the child before speaking.

“It has indeed chosen you and this is an incredible occasion.”

The girl looked up at him with a puzzled expression and he realized that she was confused.

“I have never seen a witch or a wizard that was chosen by the very first wand that they held. Usually, it takes a great many attempts to find the wand that will choose its holder, but this one seemed to call me for you and it was a very correct matching.”

“It doesn’t mean danger for her, does it?” Elizabeth asked as she remembered getting her wand and the number of boxes that were scattered on the counter in the process.

“Not at all, it merely means that they were definitely meant for each other.”

Emma carefully placed the wand back into its box, almost feeling reluctant to let it go, and then watched as the lid was closed. A moment later she was being handed the box and she held it tightly to her.

_‘This is my wand, it chose me and it feels so much like a part of me already.’_

They left the shop a short time later and it was not long before they were standing in Eeylop’s Owl Emporium where Emma had already fallen in love with a snowy white owl that was speckled with black. She reached up to run her fingers over the feathers of the raptor and was rewarded with a gentle nibbling of her fingers. She turned to look at her mother with a question.

“Didn’t Grandpa Harry have an owl like this one?”

Her mother nodded and then spoke as she realized which owl her daughter wanted.

“Yes, he did, I believe that her name was Hedwig.”

“And your owl’s name is Stormy?”

“That’s her name, you know that.”

“I want this one, Mom, but I can’t think of a name for it.”

“Well, if I buy it for you it has to have a name.”

The girl looked at the feathered creature that regarded her with yellow eyes.

“Moonbeam, that’s her name!”

“That is an excellent name, Emma. I guess that she will be going to Hogwarts with you since you have named her.”

“Would you like to go to Hogwarts with me, Moonbeam?”

The owl hooted softly and the girl smiled as her mother spoke to the clerk. Meanwhile, Sebastian was examining a very attractive dappled owl that seemed to have taken a liking to him. He ran his hand over the feathers of his companion and looked up at his parent. Thoughts of a bat had slipped from his mind and he could only see the bird in front of him.

“I see that you have decided on one.”

“Yeah, it has to be this one, Mom.”

“And what are you going to name him?”

“Thunder, Mom, I’m going to name him Thunder!”

Not long after that, the trio walked out of the emporium with two cages containing owls. The children reached up to hold their mother’s robes and then the group vanished with a POP to reappear in their home. Elizabeth watched as her children hurried to carry the cages with their owls up to their rooms before reaching into her bag to remove their purchases. It was not long before two neat piles rested on the table and a third, containing her robes and hat, was appearing as well.

Tiger appeared from somewhere and brushed against her. He was a constant companion and she adored him. She reached down to lift him into her arms and then kissed him gently before she spoke to the cat that had been her pet for many years.

“I guess that we are going back to Hogwarts, Tiger. It’s been a lot of trips that we have made together and I am looking forward to many more.”

Tiger meowed quietly and snuggled against his owner as the children returned to the room to claim their belongings. He had seen a lot in his years and would see more, for he was returning to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry yet again.

That night, after dinner was over, the children were hustled to bed after their baths and the adults finally managed to get the rest that they desired, Tiger sat quietly in a window as he regarded the world outside.

 _‘What adventures are ahead,’_ he wondered in his own cat way, _‘and how will I be involved?’_


	2. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian, Emma and the other students of Hogwarts make their way to school aboard the Hogwarts Express, but what lies ahead of them other than school work?

The family stood on Platform Nine and three-quarters as the Hogwarts Express sat waiting patiently for this latest trip to Hogwarts. Emma and Sebastian regarded the train with no trepidation and were eager to get aboard to do some exploring. Their older cousins, Rose’s children were standing near their parents as they too prepared for the trip to school.

Elizabeth watched as her friend approached, joined by Lily and Beatrice and their families. Rose’s sons, hurried to their cousins to engage in conversation as Elizabeth scooped up Beatrice’s small daughter while Lily’s girls talked to Emma.

“I can’t believe that we’re standing here as parents,” Rose announced. “I still remember Mom and Dad here saying goodbye to me when I left for my first year.”

“Me too,” Albus added, “remember, we sat in the same compartment for that trip.”

“I remember that that trip was the first time that you got into trouble as a Hogwarts student,” the redhead continued.

“Don’t announce that please,” Albus responded.

“You got into trouble before you even got to Hogwarts?" Elizabeth broke in before continuing. "Why wasn’t I told this? I’m your wife after all.”

Albus looked at his wife as she fixed him with the same look that she used when her children misbehaved. He was about to respond when they were interrupted by a squeal of excitement from Emma, who had noticed some approaching people.

“Grandma, Grandpa!”

They turned to see Elizabeth’s and Albus’ parents as well as Artemis and Amanda walking towards them. The children left their parent’s side and soon were walking back towards them as they clung to one adult or another. The group came together on the platform as hugs were exchanged.

“I can’t believe that we’re back here watching our children’s children prepare to leave for Hogwarts,” Harry said softly as he noticed Ron and Hermione walking towards them with their parents in tow. Rose and Hugo moved away to meet their parents and Emma waved happily to more adults that she loved.

“Wow,” Ron exclaimed as he looked at the crimson Hogwarts Express, “it looked a lot bigger when we rode it to go to school at Hogwarts.”

“Yeah,” Hermione added as she too looked at the thing that would take the children to school and remembered her own voyages on the train.

Elizabeth listened happily and then frowned as she noticed more arrivals. Scorpius and his family had arrived and now were moving towards the area where Slytherin students boarded. The pale man glanced in her direction briefly and then away when he realized that she might notice. He leaned down to speak to his son, who was every bit his father’s child. A girl that was obviously with the group looked at Elizabeth and her group before sticking her nose into the air and turning away to present her back to them.

“That would be Adelaide Malfoy, she makes Alexis look like an amateur,” Rose stated.

“What happened to Alexis and Ariel?” Albus asked.

“They got married, but have no children that I have heard of.”

“Ariel was okay, but Alexis was a real pain for a while,” Elizabeth added. “She finally came around, hopefully this one will too.”

They stood talking for a while and were abruptly interrupted when the locomotive tooted its horn to announce that the students needed to board. Harry and Albus straightened abruptly as something was brought to their attention, looked at each other and then vanished with twin POPs after hugging the children who were about to depart.

Emma looked for a moment at where her father and grandfather had been before turning away with tears starting down her cheeks. She hung her head as she sobbed quietly and Elizabeth gathered her child into her arms for a moment before using her finger to lift the girl’s chin so that she could look into her eyes.

“They’re going to be fine, Emma,” she reassured gently. “Now, you need to get onto the Hogwarts Express because it wouldn’t do to have you late on your very first day of school.”

The girl nodded quietly and accepted hugs from her family before walking slowly towards the train which would take her to the castle. Sebastian, ever trying to act brave, fought back the tears that threatened to escape before giving brief hugs and then following his sister. Beatrice’s daughter managed to regain her position in her mother’s arms while the woman watched the children board for the ride for school. She looked at her child and realized just how few years she had before her own daughter was boarding the train to go to the castle and silently prayed that it wouldn’t come too soon.

Emma swiftly located a seat and was grateful that it was near a window so that she could look out at her mother and grandparents. She smiled weakly as she waved while also trying to fight back tears. A noise behind her told her that other children were entering the compartment and she wiped away the tears while also trying to pretend that all was well and she was happy to be leaving for Hogwarts.

The girl knew that her mother was feeling the same way and also struggling with her outward display of emotion. Excited chatter drew the attention of the child and she turned to see several other girls in the space with her. She glanced back at her parent and managed a smile before the jolt of sudden motion told her that the trip from Platform Nine and three-quarters, not to mention the first of her seven years as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had begun.

Sebastian also watched as the platform and his family began to slide away and felt a pang of sadness. The fact that he was with a number of other boys prevented any outward display of fright. Instead, he turned and acted to all who could see him that everything was going to be fine. He felt the train gather speed and then looked out to see the group waving to him and his sister before sending a wave of his own. Then he turned back to the children in the compartment with him as they began their new adventure.

The crowd on the platform waved until the last car was out of sight and then slowly began to disperse. It would not take long for the space to become as empty as it normally was for much of the year and the emotions and memories shared there that morning joined those of countless parents and students from years past.

On board the Hogwarts Express the children had, some without realizing that they had done so, already separated into the House where they, and likely their parents, believed that they belonged. Abraxas and his sister had already managed to locate seats in the car that students from Slytherin House claimed for their own. Here they mingled with students of the same mindset as their own and even a casual observer would have been able to tell that the old problems between the Houses had returned and that the era of goodwill that had existed for many years was seriously in danger.

“Did you see her?” Abraxas asked his sister.

“Who?”

“Professor Potter! You had to have seen her, she was there with HIM! You know, the Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter himself!”

“That was the witch that Grandmother and Grandfather wanted Father to marry? That was the witch that would have been our mother?”

“Disgusting, isn’t it?”

“I think that I would rather be kissed by a troll than be her daughter,” Adelaide announced.

“She’s the one that got me put into Isolation last term. The git that I was arguing with deserved what I tried to give him and she stopped it. I hate her class Elven Magical Studies, hah, who needs them? It’s not like she teaches anything useful. There isn’t one killing charm in the lot, just charms to subdue and hold an opponent during a duel. Her class revolves around the “power of life.” I have never heard of such a pathetic class and yet you have to take it. The only good thing is that it is only a half of a term long, after that you have go to the History of Magic with Professor Binns, which is more boring tripe!”

Older students around them agreed with the loudly spoken comment by the second year boy as many of them recalled stories that they had heard from their parents and grandparents, not mention many other older witches and wizards who remembered the past.

“Were those her kids?” Adelaide asked. “The boy and girl that were with her, were those her kids?”

“Probably,” an older girl answered, “I know that she has a son and daughter, they’re twins.”

“I can’t wait to bash her daughter,” the girl snarled, “if she’s anything like Father said her mother was, she’ll probably start crying before I even touch her.”

“Be careful, Adelaide,” Abraxas cautioned. “She will run to her mommy and then tattle on you.”

“I don’t care, Abraxas. I’m still going to bash her.”

The group around them laughed at the comment and ignored the passage of the Slytherin Prefect who walked through the car on her rounds. With the reemergence of the rivalries, her job had become much more difficult than it would have been only a decade before. She briefly considered correcting the first year girl, but a realization of who the child was made her rethink her ideas. Her family actually owed the Malfoys a great deal after a favor that they had been granted. Creating a problem now would give her no end of explaining to do when enraged elders sent her the certain Howler. No, the girl was on her own, especially if she went up against Professor Elizabeth Potter. The sixth year left the car and made her way to the front of the train in search of the trolley.

Emma sat quietly in her seat while she nibbled on the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans that she had bought off of the trolley. Among her favorite treats, a second box of the candies sat next to her along with a Licorice Wand. She had decided that she liked her companions in the compartment and was chatting eagerly with them.

“Is your father really Albus Potter?” a girl with a dark complexion asked.

“Yep,” she answered with a grin.

“So that means that your grandpa is Harry Potter?”

“Right again,” Emma responded.

“Ashanti, you saw her with them on the platform. His scar was plain as day, I saw it myself,” another girl answered.

The brown eyes of the girl widened with amazement and then she looked at Emma again.

“Is your mother really a professor?”

“Yeah, she teaches Elven Magical Studies now, but everyone expects her to someday teach Transfiguration.”

“Isn’t that the class that Professor McGonagall teaches?”

“Yeah, but she asked my mom a long time ago if she would take it over once she decides to retire. My mom really doesn’t want her to retire any time soon, she really likes Professor McGonagall.”

“I hear that the classes are really hard,” Ashanti commented.

“Only if you don’t pay attention,” Chelsea Morro responded. “Emma, do you know which House you want to be in?”

“My parents would just die if I wasn’t a Gryffindor,” Emma answered. “Our family has always been in Gryffindor. How about you? Which House do you want to be in?”

“My mother was in Gryffindor and my father was a Hufflepuff, so I don’t know.”

Emma thought for a moment and then giggled as her eyes sparkled with mischief before she spoke.

“Maybe they will make a House called Gryffinpuff for you!”

The other girls in the compartment laughed at the suggestion and the laughter was continuing when Sebastian appeared at the compartment door. Emma looked up at the intruder and grimaced as she realized it was her brother.

“Em, I need to ask you a favor.”

“What?”

“I left the bag with my money with Mom. Can you loan me some until we get to the castle?”

“What do you need it for?”

“A boy in my compartment has some Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder and I want to buy it.”

“Why do you want that?”

The boy looked at his sister for a moment before speaking.

“So when you come looking for the money that I borrowed I can hide from you, dummy.”

“I think that you can wait until we see Mom,” the girl answered with annoyance evident in her voice.

“Fine,” he responded, “don’t ask me for any favors.”

“I won’t.”

The girls in the compartment watched as the boy turned away and vanished from view. Chelsea watched him intently and then turned to Emma.

“Is that your brother, Emma?”

Emma sighed and then nodded.

“Yeah, he’s my twin. We were born eight minutes apart so he acts like he’s my big brother.”

“I think he’s cute!”

Emma’s head whipped in that direction as she looked at her friend with horror. The other girls in the compartment laughed at her reaction.

“You have to be kidding!”

“I’m not, he’s cute. Do you mind if I date him?”

“Suit yourself.”

The group laughed again and it was not long before the conversation settled down to more sedate lines of talk. Emma finished a few more beans and then settled back in her seat to close her eyes. The rocking of the train did its job quickly and she was soon fast asleep as the Hogwarts Express hurried on its way to the school.

Sebastian sat down heavily in his seat, his expression fixed with anger, he truly had wanted to buy the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder but Emma had refused his request. He loved his sister, but she could be so much like their mother, always looking at the logical. The powder wasn’t a necessity, but would have been fun to have. He had had to mildly anger the boy who wanted to sell it to him by explaining that he wouldn’t have the money until they got to the castle.

 _“I thought you said that your sister would give you the money,”_ the boy had responded angrily _._

_“I thought that she would.”_

_“So talk to her again.”_

_“She’s not going to give it to me, Eric.”_

_“Sebastian, make her give it to you.”_

_“How do I do that?”_

_“You could always threaten to bash her.”_

Sebastian remembered that clearly and it was something that he knew that he couldn’t do. Emma might have made him mad, but he would never threaten to hurt her much less actually do it. They were too close for that, besides she would tell their mother that he had threatened her and then things would get really bad.

_“I can’t do that.”_

_“Why?”_

_“First, she’s a girl and I won’t hit a girl. Then there is the fact that our mother is a professor at Hogwarts. My sister would tell her and then both you and I would be in trouble. I’ll have the money once we get to the castle, I promise.”_

_“Fine, but you had better have it or I’ll be the one doing the bashing.”_

_“You know what, Eric, just forget it,”_ Sebastian had answered as anger grew in him.

They had parted to walk to their own compartments and the boy wondered if the third year would forget about it. He didn’t want to play the _“My parent is a professor”_ card any more than he had to because it would make him appear to be weak. The passing countryside gathered his attention and he finally fell asleep watching it go by. Gradually the conversation in the cars quieted and the only real noise was the sound of the wheels on the rails of the track.

As the distance passed and Hogsmeade Station neared, the Prefects on their rounds and the old witch who pushed the trolley were the majority of the motion on the Hogwarts Express. They would talk quietly among themselves and answer the occasional question from an uncertain first year, but by and large the trip was uneventful and the several hours passed before they knew it.

Emma looked up as she wiped her eyes to see a Prefect looking into the compartment.

“We’re almost there,” the older student announced, “you’ll want to change into your robes before we get to the station because there won’t be any time to do it once we arrive. You’ll go straight from the platform to the boats and then up to the castle for the Sorting Ceremony.”

The girls watched as the older boy left and then Chelsea hurried to close the door to the compartment and slide the shades down to ensure privacy while they changed.

“Wouldn’t it be terrible to be in a compartment with boys there?” Chelsea asked.

“Yeah, it would be really bad when it came time to change clothes,” Ashanti added.

Emma nodded as she finished buttoning her shirt. The remainder of dressing went fast and giggling occurred as they helped each other get ready. The finishing touches came when they slipped their robes on over their clothes and then slid their wands into their pockets. Wide eyes watched as their bags repacked themselves with the clothing that they had changed out of and then flew back up to the luggage rack over their heads.

Sebastian went through much the same thing and soon was dressed and ready for disembarking the train. He looked out through the window to see the speeding countryside slow to a crawl and then stop as the Hogwarts Express sidled up to Hogsmeade Platform. Immediately, the doors to compartments slid open and children hurried to step out into companionways to make their way off of the train and onto the platform which was much different from the one at King’s Cross. A clear night sky stretched over them and a large moon shone down onto the scene.

“Firs’ Years, this way! Come this way!”

The children turned to see a very large figure with a lantern summoning them towards him. They hesitantly approached Rubeus Hagrid as they wondered how a giant had gotten a job around children. Everyone knew that giants often considered children a delicacy.

“Is this all o’ you? Don’ want to miss the boats!”

Emma and Sebastian remembered their mother and father talking about Hagrid and did their best to reassure their classmates that they weren’t being taken to some horrible campsite to be devoured. They soon arrived at the shore of the lake where they clambered into boats that immediately started across the water once they were filled. Hagrid had his own boat, and it was a good thing, no one else would have fit in there with him. Gasps sounded as the boat moved into view of Hogwarts Castle and the new students got their first look at their home for this term and those that would follow it.

Emma looked around her and her eyes fell on a girl in her boat whose hair was so pale that it was almost white and her blue eyes seemed to cut through anyone she gazed upon. Shuddering, Emma turned back around to face forward so that she wouldn’t have to see the girl that she somehow knew was going to be a problem.

Sebastian, fearing monsters in the water, kept his hands to himself despite the urging of his boat mates to feel the cool surface of the lake. He knew that there were Merpeople in the lake, not to mention Grindylows, and he didn’t want to give them any reason to be upset. There was also the giant squid which was known to live here and which could snatch a student right out of the boat and then cast them a great distance if angered. He had no desire to be seized and then hurled onto the rocks that lined the shores.

Finally, a large boat house appeared before them and the boats came to a stop to allow the children to climb out and onto the piers. There they looked upward at a winding staircase that led up the cliff to the castle far above. Hagrid, feeling refreshed by the trip across the lake, led the way and soon the children were only a moving line of dark robes that receded in the distance as they climbed the many stairs to Hogwarts.

When they arrived at the top, their knees and legs still trembling, they were led across a large courtyard and then through a pair of large doors to stand in a large room. Hagrid left them and this gave them a chance to look around. Ahead of them was a second set of doors as big as those that they had just come through. To their right a large area with staircases caught their attention, especially when one of those staircases suddenly moved to a new location. The view to their left was a large statue that stood in front of a massive window. As interesting as all of this was, their attention was riveted when Professor Minerva McGonagall suddenly appeared in front of them and they felt the urge to become silent as she looked down upon them.

“Welcome to Hogwarts.”

They stood quietly as she cast her gaze over their group, sometimes stopping to look over a student more carefully.

“In just a short time you will go through the ceremony in which you shall be sorted into one of four Houses. Those Houses are named after our founders and are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. This will become very important to you as your House is your home here at Hogwarts. Your successes will become your House’s success while any failures also reflect upon your House.”

The first years watched as the doors ahead of them opened abruptly and then formed a line to follow the witch into the Great Hall where the older students were already seated as they waited for this spectacle. The children looked in amazement at the huge room that they had entered, complete with candles that floated above the tables and a starlit sky above it all. Emma, glancing around, noticed the High Table where the staff was seated and she smiled as she saw her mother sitting quietly while she watched the first years approach and knew that her children were among them.

 _‘We’re here, Mom,’_ she thought.

Sebastian also noticed his mother as she sat at the High Table waiting for the ceremony to begin. He smiled outwardly, but inwardly wondered if he could measure up to what his parent expected of him.

Elizabeth sat quietly as her children joined the group of first years awaiting Sorting. She thought back to the fact that they were standing very close to the spot where she had been nearly twelve years before when she had announced their impending births. The witch smiled as she watched Professor McGonagall bring forward the stool with the Sorting Hat on it and then set it down where it would be for the next hour.

_‘Soon, you two, soon we will know which House you will be in. As much as I would love for you to be Gryffindors, I would not be angry if you got sorted elsewhere.’_

The Great Hall fell completely silent as Professor Minerva McGonagall moved to stand in front of the first years and then spoke to those students sitting at the tables

“This term, as with so many before it, we are here to sort these first years into their Houses. As you all know how it works, I think that it is time that I inform them about what is going to occur. Before we begin, however, the Sorting Hat has something to share with us.”

_You may not think I’m pretty, it causes me no pain_   
_but now you stand before me and I’m doing this again._   
_Scores have come before you since I left Godric’s head,_   
_but do not fear, it may sound queer, I’ll direct you to your bed._

_Staircases abound here at Hogwarts,_   
_they number one hundred and thirty four._   
_Please sit right there upon that chair_   
_and discover your needed floor._

_For those who reside with Godric,_   
_truth and bravery are a must._   
_For those of you who cannot live like this,_   
_your career shall end in dust._

_Or perhaps you would follow Helga,_   
_she was not afraid of work._   
_If you belong within those halls,_   
_you’re labors you shall not shirk._

_Rowena was a thinker;_   
_each thought would bring a clap._   
_So if you want to be there,_   
_put on YOUR thinking cap!_

_And finally we have Salazar,_   
_who was always miles ahead._   
_These folks are always planning,_   
_and face plots without a dread._

_Four Houses are in this castle,_   
_each different as can be._   
_If you wish to find where you belong,_   
_then you must follow me!_

The older students clapped politely, but thunderously, while the hat took what for it amounted to a bow. Then attention turned back to Professor McGonagall who had stepped back to where she had been.

She reached into her robes and drew forth the parchment before looking at the first years that looked at her with a mixture of expressions. Some were eager and some were apprehensive while others were nearly shaking in their shoes with fright.

“I am going to start reading names and when you hear your name please come forward and take a seat on this stool. The hat will be placed on your head and the Sorting will take place.”

Emma watched as the professor slipped her glasses on and then examined the list that was on the rolled parchment. Then the witch looked up and spoke the first name of the new term.


	3. Sorting Things Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As normal the Sorting Hat has the first decisions to make for the term, one of them extremely difficult and one of the twins experiences the first possible discipline of the term.

The gathered first years stood with wildly beating hearts as Professor McGonagall prepared to call them to the front where their destinies would be decided. She scanned the group, never lingering on any child for very long, before finally reading a name.

“Chelsea Morro!”

Emma watched as the girl with cinnamon blonde hair that she had befriended on the Hogwarts Express stepped forward to walk to the stool and then settle onto it. The girl looked up at the hat as it neared her head and then was placed upon it to almost sink down over her eyes.

“Well, the first one this term and already we have a difficult one! I remember both of your parents, I sent one to Hufflepuff and the other to Gryffindor, not in the same term mind you, but they were in different Houses. So just where do I put you?”

Emma watched as her friend crossed her fingers and then listened as the hat spoke once again.

“Finger crossing doesn’t work where I am concerned but, since you are that worried about it and I know that your parents want what is best for you I am going to send you to…”

Chelsea’s eyes were tightly closed as her mouth moved silently.

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

The table where the Hufflepuff students were seated clapped loudly as Chelsea rose after the hat had been removed from her head and she hurried towards her home. She and Emma looked at each other longingly and Elizabeth knew that they had wanted to be together.

 _‘Just like me and Lily,’_ she thought as she watched her daughter.

“Everett Wardlow!”

The first years watched as the hat lowered onto the portly boy’s head and nearly as quickly was removed when the hat yelled out its decision almost immediately.

“RAVENCLAW!”

The room watched as the boy walked as swiftly as he could to the table where he would be seated.

“Adelaide Malfoy!”

There was no mystery about where the girl would go and the hat nearly shouted out its decision before it was even close to the head of the child.

“SLYTHERIN!”

All watched as the girl nearly rocketed off of the stool and rushed towards the table where she would be seated. In her progress towards the table, she gave Emma a rather hard shoulder bump and her victim turned to watch her recede. Elizabeth watched this as well and knew that almost certainly it had not been accidental. The girl had appeared almost smug as she settled down at the table and then talked excitedly about something while motioning with her head towards the girl who was still waiting to be sorted.

Emma turned her attention back to the ceremony as another name was called and she tried to ignore what had happened. She stood quietly while other students were sent to their Houses and waited for her name to be called.

 _‘At least,’_ she thought, _‘Sebastian hasn’t been called yet. I just wonder where we’re going to be sent. Will we be in the same House? Dad said that Uncle Ron’s brothers Fred and George were both put into Gryffindor and they were twins like us.’_

“Sebastian Potter!”

Emma watched as her brother stepped towards the stool and then turned his head to look over his shoulder at his sibling. The girl held her breath as he sat down on the stool and then the hat was placed on his head.

“Well, I wondered when I would be put on your head. It seems like only yesterday that your parents were here and I was sorting them. You’re an easy one!

Sebastian sat silent until the hat roared out its decision.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Emma watched as her brother rose from the stool and hurried to the waiting table while the ceremony continued. The girl began to panic as name after name was called and she started to wonder if they had forgotten to put her name on the parchment. What would happen if they ran out of names to call and she was still standing there? Would she be put back onto the Hogwarts Express and sent home? Would everyone get to watch as she walked out of the Great Hall in disgrace, expelled before she had even sat down in a classroom, before she had even been sorted into a House?

She was deep in these unpleasant thoughts and didn’t hear the name that was called as tears started down her face. Suddenly, Ashanti was nudging her and she looked up as Professor McGonagall said the name again.

“Emma Potter!”

She wiped her eyes and then walked up to where the professor was waiting while she hoped that she wasn’t blushing noticeably. The girl looked up at her mother and Elizabeth nodded her reassurance before Emma sat down on the stool.

“I guess that we have another Potter here tonight. You are much like your parents, a little more like your mother than your father, but much like them. You, however, are a bit difficult! In fact you are very, very difficult! You have qualities of all of the Houses, a bit of this one and some of that one, but not enough of any of them to say with certainty which one you favor. Your mother and father, as well as your grandparents, were all Gryffindor, but is that truly the place for you?”

Emma sat quietly under the hat while she looked with longing at the table where Chelsea sat before looking towards the table where her parents had sat to eat. Confusion went through her mind and she remembered what her mother had said about the Houses all working together now, but did they really? What if all of the troubles between the Houses were going to start again?

The Sorting Hat was somehow listening to her thoughts and was just as conflicted as she was. Where did the young girl belong? Her brother had been a simple choice, but his sister was proving to be a chore.

Tables of students and staff sat quietly, talking softly among themselves while the very real possibility of a Hatstall occurred. The staff watched with interest, knowing that Hatstall students were always very interesting in class, if not a bit confusing and confused themselves.

“You could be a Hufflepuff because you’re an industrious sort, but you are a thinker as well so perhaps Ravenclaw is where you need to be. Gryffindor might do the trick as you are both brave and loyal, but you plan things out so maybe Slytherin.”

_‘Please decide, Mister Hat, I want to go somewhere.’_

The hat paused in its ramble and then finally Emma head a voice in her head that no one else was privy to.

_‘Where do you want to go, young Miss Potter?’_

_‘Well, my family has always been in Gryffindor and my friends have been split up to go to different Houses. I don’t want to go to Slytherin, because there I have to deal with Adelaide Malfoy and her brother, Abraxas.’_

_‘We have to come to a decision as this has already gone on for over six minutes. Say the word and you shall be in that House.”_

Emma looked at the table where Chelsea was sitting and looking at her longingly and then at the table where her brother sat and where her parents and family had always been. Then she turned and looked at her mother, who looked back at her child with a  
“Do what you want to do” look on her face.

_‘I know that my friend wants me to go to Hufflepuff, but I really think that I need to go to Gryffindor.’_

The decision as announced a moment later.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Emma saw Chelsea’s face fall as she rose from the stool and walked towards the Gryffindor table. She settled down onto the bench where she was welcomed to the House and made up her mind at that point to seek out the other girl and continue to be friends.

The ceremony continued while they watched and a short time later Emma heard her other friend’s name called.

“Ashanti Jordan!”

She watched as the girl walked up to the stool and settled onto it a moment before the decision was made. Emma wondered which House Ashanti would be put into as she knew that the girl’s grandfather, Lee Jordan, had also gone to Hogwarts and had been a friend of her grandfather, not to mention her twin uncles.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

The girl watched as her friend ran to her table and they hugged for a moment until they sat back down for the remainder of the ceremony. It went quickly enough and soon Professor McGonagall was moving the stool back to where it stayed while Headmaster Leeds stepped up to the lectern.

“I’m certain that you are all hungry and so am I! Let the meal begin!”

Instantly the tables were full of food of all varieties and the children hurried to fill their plates and begin eating while they talked. Some were introducing themselves and learning what they needed to know while others were catching up with friends and listening to what had gone on during their break. Everywhere, it seemed, someone had a momentous announcement to make and still the noise level stayed at manageable.

Sebastian looked up to see the ghosts starting to appear and smiled as he remembered stories that his parents and other relatives had told him and Emma about them. They drifted about, all of them a silvery-gray and nearly transparent, while they greeted the students.

As the meal progressed, Minerva McGonagall leaned over to speak to Elizabeth.

“Emma was a bit of a challenge for the hat.”

“She really wanted to be with her friend, Minerva. I could see and feel how torn she was between being with her friend and pleasing her father and me. It was painful for her and I almost wished at that moment that I couldn’t see into her mind.”

“Being as powerful a Legilimens as you are has its challenges and price, Elizabeth.”

“I know.”

“Have the children shown any ability yet?”

“Well, they’re twins and sometimes I had the feeling that they could read what the other was going to say or was thinking.”

“Then perhaps they are developing their own abilities.”

“I wish that they didn’t have to go through it like I did.”

“It’s a gift, Elizabeth.”

“And it can be a curse, Minerva.”

“I just cannot believe that I am seeing a third generation of your family. I taught your parents, I taught you and Albus, and now I’ll teach your son and daughter.”

They both smiled as they looked at the children who were sitting not far from where Elizabeth had always been seated before returning to their meals.

The meal itself passed and soon dessert had appeared in front of the staff and students. Elizabeth smiled as the dish of Cherry Crisp appeared as memories played through her mind and she helped herself to a portion of it while she glanced again at the children that she had watched grow up from infancy. The time had passed so quickly since the day that they had been born and now they were starting at Hogwarts.

_‘Please have an easier time of it than I did.’_

Emma had forgotten some of the disappointment that she had felt at having to decide which house she was going to belong to. As they were both first years, she and Chelsea would attend the same classes and therefore would have opportunity to see and work with each other. Ashanti would be a part of it too and Emma knew that she was going to have a great term.

Sebastian was also involved in making friends among the boys that were a part of Gryffindor. He could see his sister only a meter or so away and knew that he would have to behave himself as she would not hesitate to inform their mother if he got into too much mischief. He glanced down the table at Eric, the boy who he had angered by refusing to threaten Em. There was the very real possibility of trouble and he knew that.

_‘I’ll just have to deal with it when it comes to that.’_

It was not long before the dishes were suddenly clean again and the food had vanished. The students rose and the first years found themselves being herded to their proper destinations by the Prefects. Sebastian was nearly to the door of the Great Hall when he sensed a presence and turned to see his mother standing next to him with something in her hand.

“You forgot this, Sebastian,” she explained as she handed her son the bag that she held. “If you borrowed anything from your sister make certain that you repay it.”

“Yes, Mom,” he responded.

“Sebastian, when we’re alone I don’t mind if you call me Mom. But when everyone else is around it is Professor Potter.”

“Yes, Professor Potter.”

“Now, as I have made you lose your group, I will walk with you up to the portrait of the Fat Lady.”

The pair left the Great Hall and memories swarmed around in her mind as Elizabeth once again took in the familiar surroundings. She paused briefly at a portrait of a young woman and spoke to it.

“Emma, this is my son, Sebastian. My daughter, your namesake, just went past here with the other Gryffindor first years.”

“You had twins?”

“I did, and now they are starting school here.”

“I’ll have to meet your daughter, Elizabeth. Sebastian, if none of the other portraits have done this, let me be the first to welcome you to Hogwarts.”

Mother and son walked on and Sebastian looked at his parent.

“Did you know her before she was a portrait?”

Elizabeth looked at her son and nodded sadly.

“She was a student here, Sebastian. She died during her seventh year and I was with her when it happened. Terrible things have happened here at Hogwarts, some in the recent past, I just hope that you finish your seven years without experiencing anything like I did.”

Not long after that they arrived at the portrait that they sought and Elizabeth looked at the portrait that waited for her to speak.

“Professor Potter, although I know that you were a Gryffindor when you went to school here, I still need your password please.”

“Gliding Griffins.”

The portrait nodded and Sebastian watched as the frame swung aside to allow him to enter. Elizabeth followed him and stepped into the common room that didn’t seem to have changed in the years since she had been a student. The sixth year Prefect turned to round on the first year boy for being late and then stopped as he realized that Sebastian was with a staff member.

“Mister Wilson, did you have something that you wanted to say to this student?”

“No, Professor Potter, except to tell him that his dorm was downstairs and to the left.”

“Very well,” she answered before speaking again, “I shall see you both in class tomorrow.”

Sebastian hurried to leave the room and make his way down to his dorm, certain that the Prefect had intended to say much more than he had. He entered the dorm to find his things waiting for him and soon was changing into his pajamas while he talked to the other boys in the dorm. Soon enough, they would be getting into bed to get some sleep before the next day came and they would start classes for the first time at Hogwarts.

Emma was already sitting up in bed while she read one of the books that she had brought with her from home. It felt so different from the way that she had learned at home, her grandmother had taught her and Sebastian before they started school here. Victoria Blackwell had been a demanding teacher who expected effort from her grandchildren and accepted no shirking. She looked around at the other first year girls and Ashanti smiled at as she snuggled down in the bed that was next to Emma’s.

“We’re going to have so much fun here, Emma.”

“Yeah, we will, Ashanti.”

The girls in the room talked for a while until a female Prefect poked her head in and told them to get some sleep. The lights in the room dimmed and it was not long before every bed was occupied by a sleeping child.

The castle slumbered while the multitude of children rested, but not totally still. Professor Elizabeth Potter walked quietly down a darkened corridor to her classroom where she would prepare for the next morning. Albus made the trip with her and they soon were in the classroom as the lights came up on their own.

“How did they do?”

“They both ended up in Gryffindor, although our daughter managed to become the longest lasting Hatstall in recent history.”

“Emma did that?”

“She met another girl on the Hogwarts Express who ended up in Hufflepuff and was really torn about which House she wanted to be in. You know Em, always thinking about someone else before herself.”

“Our daughter has a lot of you in her, Beth.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Elizabeth countered as she put her arms up over the shoulders of her husband and then kissed him. “I think that there is a fair amount of her father in there too.”

Albus returned the kiss as he ran his fingers through her hair and held her tightly. They looked into each other’s eyes and kissed again. She looked up at him and he saw the pain in her eyes before she asked him what was on her mind.

“Albus, do you ever wonder if the baby would have been a boy or a girl?”

“Sometimes I wonder who would have been outnumbered, Emma or Sebastian. I wouldn’t have minded another set of twins if they had been like the pair that we have.”

“You certainly used to complain about the diapers.”

“Who wouldn’t? Some of them were terrible, especially at night!”

“And now those children are here at Hogwarts, Albus. If they follow our lead we could be grandparents in less than eight years.”

The eyes of her husband widened as Elizabeth spoke and he looked at her strangely.

“They wouldn’t dare…”

“We did! Or have you forgotten that they were born less than a year after I finished my seventh term or that I announced that we were having twins the day that I was getting my parchment?”

“Yeah, I remember it and that, Elizabeth, scares me more than any dark wizard or witch that I have ever faced.”

“Did you have a rough day today?”

“It wasn’t easy. The Aurors at Azkaban went into lockdown when they thought that a prisoner had escaped. The barriers that reveal magic stopped him before he got very far and he is now facing the Wizengamot again for attempting to escape. Still, they called in Aurors from everywhere to make certain that they didn’t have an incident like the one where Bellatrix LeStrange escaped.”

Elizabeth shuddered at the thought of the long dead witch who had been destroyed on the same day as Voldemort. She had never encountered either one of the pair, but no sane witch or wizard could think about them without dread. The thought that they had produced a daughter, Delphini, who thankfully was in Azkaban, frightened people far more as the possibility of her escape was carefully guarded against.

Albus looked around the classroom where his wife would be teaching and smiled. He remembered the classroom for another reason entirely. The expression on his face told her that something was amiss and she eyed him suspiciously.

“What are you so happy about?”

“I was just thinking about this room.”

“What?”

He looked at her with a strange expression on his face before answering.

“We used to sneak in here when we skipped classes.”

“ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER!”

He flinched as a tone that his mother had frequently used left the mouth of his wife.

“You used to skip classes?”

He grimaced as his wife punched him lightly in the ribs and nodded.

“A fine example for our son and daughter you are! And you’re an Auror!”

“I never claimed to be perfect, Beth.”

“It’s a good thing,” she added as she swatted him playfully and then kissed him again.

“I love you, Beth.”

“I love you, Albus.”

When they parted, he looked around again and smiled once more as memories came back to him. Elizabeth looked at him and then shook her head.

“You’re terrible!”

They laughed as they prepared the room for the coming classes and Elizabeth examined the one text that existed on what she taught. It hadn’t been hard to find as it had been written by herself, with the extensive consultation of an Elven elder. The Department of Magical Studies had given the book its approval and Elizabeth had been using it for the six years that she had taught the subject while her mother taught the twins at home. The time between her finishing at Hogwarts and the beginning of her career had been full of joy as she cared for a little girl and a little boy and she cherished the memories that she had been blessed with.

“I still can’t believe that you were able to write this text as quickly as you did,” he announced as he examined a copy.

“It was easy! I just wrote what I had learned from Sebastian and Frenwhel, not to mention Chloe and Digby. The elder that helped me made it all come together and now they are talking about putting it into print and requiring that the subject be taught in all of the magical schools.”

“Brilliant!”

“It’s going to seem strange to see copies of it in Flourish and Blott’s. As it is, these are the only copies and they were made by the elves here at Hogwarts.”

“So, is it still just a half term class?”

“Yeah, the other half of the term the student’s get to deal with Professor Binns.”

“History of Magic? Yuck! I actually got more sleep in that class than I ever did at night in bed.”

“ALBUS!”

“You can’t tell me that you didn’t get a few winks in that class yourself.”

“Well,” she admitted sheepishly, “maybe a few.”

“Thought so,” he accused as they laughed. “How’s Tiger adjusting to things here?”

“He found his sleeping place and settled right down like he had never left it.”

“The house is going to miss us while we’re gone.”

“We’ll be back before very long and then it will be noisy again, especially with two energetic preteens.”

“Do you have to keep saying that?”

“The truth hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, I’m just in no hurry to be called Grandpa.”

“I’m not ready to be Grandma either.”

“You know, Aunt Hermione has that Time Turner, maybe we could send the kids back to when they were babies.”

“Albus!”

“It would be fun having babies again, wouldn’t it?”

“Fine, we’ll do it, but you get the diapers, especially the dirty ones in the middle of the night.”

Albus groaned as he realized what his wife was saying and then responded.

“Why don’t we pass on that? They’re fine the way that they are.”

“I agree totally.”

The remainder of the preparations went quickly and they soon left the classroom to walk to the rooms that they occupied while not working to change clothing and then slip into bed where they both fell asleep quickly to wait for the coming day.

**I would like to thank J.K. Rowling for the characters and places that are recognizable as her work.**


	4. Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first days of class bring a bit of mischief as well as conflict from a not so unusual source.

Morning found the first years hurrying to their first class at Hogwarts, which also happened to be the first class of the last term that Professor McGonagall would teach at the school. She had made the announcement of her impending retirement at a staff meeting and each of the other professors at the table had taken it as a body blow. The witch had become an institution of her own within the castle and few could remember a time that she was not present.

The evening had also heard the announcement that Hagrid also intended to leave his post at the school. Age was catching up with him and his duties were becoming strenuous to the point that they were painful. He would continue to live in the hut near the forest, but the time of Rubeus Hagrid as a staff member was coming to an end.

Minerva McGonagall opened the door to her classroom to find the first years waiting patiently. Immediately her eyes found Emma Potter, and she was reminded strongly of the girl’s mother, Elizabeth. The child had taken heavily after her parent in looks and the professor wondered if the same could be said for her abilities.

Sebastian, the twin brother of the girl stood a short distance away and reminded the teacher strongly of his father, although his mother’s influence was very apparent. Albus hadn’t been as dedicated a student as Elizabeth had been, or even as much as his father had been, but he had still been wonderful to have in class.

She watched as the children filed past and her eyes fell on Adelaide Malfoy as the girl coolly pushed past her to walk to a vacant seat near the other students from Slytherin House. As much as many hated to admit it, the old problems had begun to rear their ugly heads again and House rivalries had intensified in the past few years. Many parents who now had children at Hogwarts had objected to the appointment of Elizabeth Potter as a full professor and argued strongly whenever she issued punishment for misbehavior and the young staff member had been forced to defend her decision on many occasions.

The doors closed behind the students and Minerva McGonagall walked to the front of the classroom to address the last class of first years that she would teach.

Emma sat quietly as she listened to the professor that she and her brother had met many times while they waited for this day to arrive. Now she understood what her mother and father had said about the witch that stood before them, she was easy to listen to and understand and the young girl instantly fell in love with her.

“Right now, before we attempt any transfigurations, we have some writing to do so I need all of you to get out your quills,” the professor announced.

A flurry of movement announced the students digging for their quills but a single voice broke the near silence and all heads turned to see who was speaking.

“I thought that this was a school of magic, not a school where you have to write!”

Searching eyes found Adelaide Malfoy as she sat in her chair, eyes ablaze and arms folded across her chest.

“I won’t do it and you can’t make me!”

“Miss Malfoy, while I am quite certain that you believe that you can best what your grandfather, father and cousins tried when they were students in this classroom, I assure you that right now you are trailing a very distant last place! Should you decide to try to beat what they did I shall have no problem with taking you to Professor Leeds. I do not believe that we have ever had a first year student sent home on their first day, but things can change and I doubt very much that your family would appreciate having to come to Hogwarts to take you home.”

“Are you threatening me with expulsion?” the girl asked incredulously.

“No threat is implied, Miss Malfoy, but should you continue with this course of action I shall have no problem with sending you to speak with the Headmaster.”

“And is that supposed to frighten me?”

“You may leave now, Miss Malfoy. Be certain to report to Professor Leeds’ office and you have just managed to lose five points for Slytherin House for your insolence.”

The girl rose, gathered her things and then stormed out of the room. The girl’s attempt to slam the door behind her failed miserably due to the charm on the door which prevented such actions and her classmates watched for a moment before turning back to their task. Emma smiled as she listened to the professor talk about things that she remembered her mother discussing with them and, when they had a brief pause in the lesson, raised her hand.

“Yes, Miss Potter?”

“Professor McGonagall, did my mother really transfigure a classroom into a rainforest?”

Minerva McGonagall smiled as she nodded and then left where she stood to walk to a door which stood on one wall of the classroom. She stopped there before explaining what they were going to see.

“What Miss Potter is referring to is a wonderful example of Transfiguration! Professor Potter was excellent at transfiguring things as a student here and, I should imagine, still is. When she was my teaching assistant during her seventh year, she produced what lies beyond this door. Now, things have been added over the years and she is always listening to suggestions for new items and looking for examples of student work to add to the site. If you would please line up, I will open this door and allow you to see what you should be capable of when you are seventh years.”

The eager children rose to line up and then watched with open anticipation as the door was opened and the scene before them revealed. Gasps of wonder and oohs sounded as they stepped into a place where it seemed that anything was possible. A herd of pink rats with feathers ran across the path in front of them and several girls giggled at the sight.

“That was one of Professor Potter’s first attempts at Transfiguration. She loved it so much that she recreated it to add to the inhabitants here. There are also some blue rats within the rainforest, courtesy of Lily Potter. That group of girls was very capable of creating interesting subjects to study.”

Emma grinned as she thought about her mother and aunt and what they had produced. Sebastian raised his hand to speak.

“Yes, Mister Potter?”

“Will we be transfiguring things?”

“Yes, Mister Potter, you will, but not this half of the term. During the first half of your first year, you only transfigure not living subjects to prevent harm to them. There are a number of things that you must know before you will be permitted to use living subjects. Most important among these are the laws pertaining to the use of living creatures in Transfiguration and what can happen if you mistreat your subject. This is why we never use Transfiguration as a punishment here at Hogwarts! Professors and Prefects are forbidden to do so under threat of severe punishment that can include imprisonment in Azkaban for extreme cases.”

The gathered children fell silent at this although many had noticed the bushes festooned with Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. They eyed them eagerly and this did not go unnoticed by the professor.

“They serve as food for dragons that live in the rainforest,” she announced and grinned herself as the children immediately moved away from the bushes.

“Dragons?” Ashanti asked.

“Yes, dragons, Miss Jordan.”

“But aren’t you afraid that they might breathe fire on someone?”

“Oh, these don’t breathe fire, Miss Jordan.”

“They don’t?”

The students laughed as a small dragon suddenly flew past them, breathing bubbles as it went. It paused for a moment to eat a few beans and then fluttered away. They watched it vanish and clapped as it did.

“You are all free to explore the rainforest. There is nothing here that can harm you, except for each other. I want no injuries or points will be taken and please leave some beans for the dragons.”

Emma and some of the other girls hurried to follow a large butterfly whose wings changed colors as it fluttered by. They laughed as they talked and dreamed about the time when they too could add to this wonderful realm.

“I can’t wait to make things like this,” Emma announced as they watched frogs leap from the water and take flight to chase insects.

“But I thought that we weren’t allowed to use live objects,” a girl from Ravenclaw added.

“I’ll bet it’s because they aren’t being hurt!” Ashanti answered. “They just live here and are just fine.”

“What I want to know is how your mom did this, Emma. This is just a classroom, but it seems to go on forever without running into walls.”

Emma shrugged her shoulders at Ashanti’s statement as she examined a flower.

Sebastian and his friends were also exploring and had happened upon the ruins of an ancient structure. The boys wandered through the wondrous creation and discovered interesting life forms that now called the place home. What should have been a lifeless ruin was teeming with strange creatures and they took care to avoid harming what they saw.

“Your mom is brilliant, Sebastian. I can’t wait to meet her.”

“You will. Just be ready for the fact that she doesn’t put up with anything, including missing assignments.”

The boys continued their explorations while Adelaide was finally arriving at her destination. She stepped into the office of Tobias Leeds to see the headmaster waiting for her as he sat behind his desk.

“Miss Malfoy, I have been expecting you.”

“She had no right sending me here!”

“You, Miss Malfoy are just like your father and brother. In fact, you are like a great number of Malfoys that I have met over the years.”

The girl paused as she wondered how to take the statement.

“Miss Malfoy, as this is your first day at Hogwarts I am not going to punish you. Professor McGonagall has shown restraint when she took points from your House. She took only two points as a gentle warning to you. Do not repeat your actions or she will take far more than two.”

“I also will warn you not to try Professor Potter, who has in the past shown incredible restraint and charity when dealing with your father and cousins, Alexis and Ariel, when she and they were students here. There were many occasions with your father that he could have been, and would have been, permanently expelled had it not been for her asking that he be shown leniency despite what he had done to her. This included things that nearly got her not only nearly expelled, but also imprisoned, but still she came to their aid. I doubt very highly that that charity will last forever. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Professor Leeds, I understand.”

“Good, then you may return to classes. The first class is almost over, so you shall need to report to your second class which is Potions with Professor Tindwell. Merely follow the glowing footsteps on the floor and they shall lead you to where you need to be.”

The girl nodded and looked down to see glowing footprints that had appeared beside her. She turned and walked out of the room while keeping her eyes on them but her mind elsewhere.

_‘I’ll be nice, until I feel that I don’t have to be! I’ve heard all about Professor Potter and can’t wait to see how she handles this Malfoy!’_

The bells in the tower announced the change of class and soon the halls were filled with students moving to their next destination. Adelaide arrived at the classroom door shortly after her classmates did and soon was entering the room. She scanned the room and realized to her horror that the only empty seat was at the front of the room next to Emma. Frowning at the development and realizing that no one was likely to move from where they were, she walked to the chair and sat down as she slammed her book onto the table. Emma glanced at her with irritation before turning her attention to the writing that had appeared on the board in front of them as if written by an invisible hand.

Professor Tindwell watched as the children pulled out their quills to begin writing and paused for a moment as he looked at the Potter twins and then Adelaide Malfoy. There was no way that anyone could mistake which families any of them belonged to and he wondered idly if their work habits and temperaments matched those of their parents. Clearly, the Malfoy girl had been cut from the same cloth as her brother and father because she had an impatient air about her and seemed already to feel as though she knew all that she needed to about what they were going to study.

The Potter twins were alike in a way that siblings were although the girl seemed to be a bit more committed to the situation than her brother was. Sebastian was his father’s son, there was no doubt about it because he looked and carried himself just like Albus had. Still, he could see Elizabeth within the boy as well and hoped that her dedicated nature had been passed on to her male offspring as clearly as it had been to her daughter. Emma was a normal, giggly first year girl, but he could see her mother easily in the child, although her father not quite as well.

“First years, once you have finished copying what is on the board, you are to immediately begin reading the section in your text that is indicated within your assignment. We will not be moving to potion preparation until I am satisfied that you are ready to do so.”

Emma glanced at Aldelaide as the girl growled her irritation at the statement of the professor and then turned her attention back to what she was copying. This glance did not go unnoticed by either Professor Tindwell or Adelaide, who responded in true Malfoy form.

“Do you have a problem with me, Potter?”

Emma looked at the other girl once again, this time with a bit more disgust as her train of thought was interrupted. She thought about speaking in response, but instead went back to what she had been doing. If someone was going to get into trouble with Professor Tindwell it wasn’t going to be her.

“Are you deaf as well as dumb, Potter?”

Tindwell started in the direction of the pair as he realized that Emma had had about all that she was going to take from the irritant sitting next to her. He was nearly to the pair when Emma responded.

“Actually, Aldelaide, I just don’t want to have an intelligence contest with you. In my opinion you would have a hard time beating a rock in one of those, let alone beating a Flobber Worm. Why don’t you crawl back into whatever hole that you Malfoys slither out of because I really don’t care what you think. In short, Adelaide Malfoy, shut up!”

The class fell dead silent as Adelaide rose from her seat to glare at Emma. Sebastian watched as his twin rose to face the other girl, her eyes set intently on her antagonist.

“What did you say to me, Potter?” Adelaide snarled.

“Well, in case you couldn’t understand it, let simplify it for you. Close your mouth when you’re around me, because I have no interest in anything that you have to say! Just leave me alone!”

Adelaide drew her hand back to slap the other girl and then stopped as a hand wrapped around her wrist. She turned to see a thoroughly angered professor grasping her arm.

“What right do you have touching me, Professor Tindwell?”

“If it is to prevent you from striking another student, I have every right,” he responded before turning his attention to Emma. “Miss Potter, I advise you to sit down or face detention.”

“Yes, sir, Professor Tindwell,” Emma answered as she returned to her seat and the adult turned his attention back to the other girl.

“Miss Malfoy, you have two choices, either sit down and do what is assigned to you or leave this room and report back to Professor Leeds.”

“Why am I the only one in trouble?”

“Quite possibly because you are the one that I had to stop from striking your classmate,” he answered. “Now, which is it going to be, return to work or return to the headmaster’s office?”

The girl looked around the room at the eyes that were watching the entire episode before finally relenting and responding.

“I’ll do my work, Professor Tindwell.”

“Excellent, then I advise you to leave Miss Potter alone and do what you need to be doing,” Tindwell replied as he released the arm that he still held. He walked away as the girl returned to her seat and sat silently as she glared straight ahead.

_‘I’ll catch you later, Emma, when there aren’t professors around.’_

The class was completely silent after that and soon ended, with the children walking to Flying Practice. Sebastian was nearly aloft already as he looked forward to getting onto one of the practice brooms. The boy loved to fly and often could be found aloft on one of the brooms at his home, albeit under the watchful eye of one of his parents or grandparents.

Emma was the same way, showing none of the fear that her mother had shown as a first year. She loved the feel of the wind blowing through her hair and against her face and frequently frightened the adults with her daring. Her brother might have been brave, but she was fearless and didn’t object to the sometimes painful treatments for the scrapes and cuts that she obtained during flying practice at home.

The group walked quietly to the practice area to see the new flying instructor, Professor Ima Loft, waiting for them.

“Good morning class, I need you to each find a broom and step up to the left side of it and hold out your right hand. I will tell you what to do next.”

Emma hurried to stand near Chelsea and Ashanti as they prepared for their first flying practice at school. Several students were stunned when brooms that she and Sebastian were next to leapt up from the ground to their extended hands. The professor walked towards the pair and looked at them carefully.

“You two are the Potter twins, aren’t you?”

“Yes, ma`am, Professor Loft,” they answered in unison.

“I thought so, you,” she stated as she looked at Sebastian, “look just like your father and you, young lady, look like your mother. I went to school with them here and played Quidditch against your father for Ravenclaw House. They’ve had you practicing, haven’t they?”

The pair nodded and she smiled.

“Well, at least you had good teachers.”

Then she turned back to the remainder of the class and continued with class.

“I want each of you to shout the word up and to be prepared to catch the broom as it rises.”

A short time later the students had their brooms firmly in their grasps, had mounted them and were waiting for the next directions from the professor.

Emma and her brother, like many of their classmates, knew what they were to do next but waited patiently for the command that was to come. The whistle suddenly blew and the students kicked off to find themselves hovering a few feet above the ground. Then, regretfully, they had to touch back down without doing any actual flying. Sebastian watched with amusement as his sibling wrinkled her nose in disgust and knew that she was feeling the same thing that he was, disappointment.

They waited patiently, which at times was difficult, while the professor went from student to student as they hovered to correct any thing that she found in error.

“You look as though you are a Chaser that is going after the Quaffle, Mister Potter. I saw that very posture in your father when we were playing Quidditch.”

“Thank you, Professor Loft,” the boy responded as the professor turned to Emma to appraise her position on the broom that she was astride.

“Excellent work, Miss Potter, I assume that your parents have been working with you and your brother on the art of flying.”

“Yes, Ma’am, Professor Loft, they’ve been working with us almost since we were able to walk.”

“It definitely shows.”

Adelaide watched suspiciously as the professor moved towards her and critiqued her performance.

“Miss Malfoy, you are leaning too far back. If you were to have to go into a steep climb and be in that position you would very likely fall off of your broom.”

“My father taught me how to fly and I certainly do not need your criticism.”

“Then your father taught you incorrectly and you shall not pass to the next stage until you have corrected this very unsafe behavior. In short, you shall not go above this altitude until you have mastered the correct stance on a broom and you certainly shall not move away from here on a broom until you have done so.”

The class watched as the girl clouded up and were ready for the explosion that they expected to occur, but they were surprised when nothing happened. She finally nodded and, under the direction of the witch, moved to correct her position on the broomstick. To the other children, Adelaide had taken on the appearance of someone who was loosely admitting defeat and complying with demands. When she was satisfied with what she was seeing, the professor turned to the class and then gave her next instructions.

“I want all of you to begin a slow circuit of the practice area at an altitude of no more than twenty feet. Below that altitude is fine if you are at all concerned about it, but you certainly can go no higher than that. Failure to abide by these instructions shall lose ten points for your House. Think of it as a slow game of Follow the Leader, and I will be watching!”

Although they were soon flying, both Emma and Sebastian were disappointed at the speed and height that they were constrained to. Neither of them had flown this low, unless they were being daring, or at such a slow speed for a very long time and both had to fight the urge to push the brooms that they were on to greater heights and speeds. The fifth year that was leading the group was obviously bored with it all and they secretly hoped that the girl would decide to do something interesting for them to follow, but they were disappointed and soon were landing as class came to an end.

Emma hurried to her friends after the brooms had been put away and the girls grabbed up their things before making their way to the next class, the one that Emma had been looking forward to, Elven Magical Studies. She entered the room with them to find her mother at the door as she greeted each student. The girl wanted to say “Hi Mom” but fought down the urge, somehow her mother didn’t seem like her mother at the moment and Emma wondered just how strictly the class would be run. She and the others in her class walked to seats and soon were waiting for the lessons to begin.

Elizabeth had also fought down an urge, the urge to hug her children and ask them how their day was going. It would have put the children in an uncomfortable position and perhaps made them labeled “Teacher’s Pet”. Both children walked past her with only a quick glance and soon were seated in her classroom while the doors closed behind them. Then she walked towards the front of the room.

“In front of each of you is a copy of the text that you will use for this class. While you may take it with you to use for the length of this class, you will be returning it at the end. I expect it to be in good condition when you return it.”

“Now, you might be asking yourself why you are learning about Elven magic when you are capable of performing magic yourself. This is a valid question and thus deserves an answer. In short, you may need what I am going to teach you at some point in your lives, although I hope that you never have a reason to use it. The spells that you shall learn within this room are primarily defensive, but can also be used in an attack. Elven magic relies on the power of life and only a very desperate witch or wizard would attempt to use it to kill.”

A hand rose immediately and she turned to face the girl.

“Yes, Miss Andrews?”

“Have you ever used it?”

“Yes, I have used it and I am pleased to say that only one existence ended because of its use.”

“You killed someone with it?” the girl responded.

“Killed someone, no,” she answered, “ended their existence in our world yes. The person that I am referring to was an ancient wizard that attempted to destroy both our world and the world of the Muggles.”

“No loss if that happened,” a whispered comment announced.

“Mister Jenkins, do you have something that you wish to say?” Elizabeth countered as her children saw a side of her reserved for when she was angered. “Please, tell me what you are thinking. If you feel strongly enough about it to speak up and interrupt my classroom, it must be incredibly important.”

The boy in Ravenclaw robes rose and then spoke.

“Why should we care if the Muggle world ends? What have they ever done for us?”

“A great number of children here at Hogwarts would not exist had it not been for Muggles. They have a civilization not unlike our own, in fact, many of their inventions are used by us and we would be poorer without them.”

“Muggles used to hunt witches and wizards and burn them, Professor Potter. Their history even glorified it when it was done in America at Salem.”

“True, I will not deny that fact, but you cannot deny the fact that we have carried out atrocities as well. Neither side is blameless. It is because of this that we keep the existence of our world a secret from them. Both sides fear the unknown and seek to destroy that which is different from what they have. But we need to care about their fate and someday; perhaps, Muggle and Magical will be able to openly live together once we find a way to reconcile our differences.”

The boy sat down to think about what had been said as the witch continued.

“The power that Elven spells wield is incredible and, used properly, can subdue even the most powerful opponent without causing harm. The Aurors at Azkaban have adopted many of these spells for use against prisoners at that facility.”

The children listened carefully as she spoke and rose when the bells rang announcing the first mid-day meal of the term. Sebastian and his friends hurried from the room while Emma and the girls made a more graceful departure. Elizabeth smiled as she watched her children vanish but frowned as she wondered about what she had felt within the room. There had been a dark feeling in the room, nothing pervasive, but it had been present. She rose and walked to the Great Hall to make her way to the High Table and the meal.

The trip to the Great Hall from the classroom took the first years through a section of Hogwarts that they had not yet encountered and they gasped as they saw the many portraits that hung on the walls. Emma grinned as she recognized some of the subjects and pointed them out to her friends as they neared their destination. They finally arrived to find their places waiting for them and were soon seated to prepare for the meal.

The children watched as the professor that they had just had class with walked past them and Ashanti nudged her friend.

“Is that really your mom?”

Emma nodded her head in response and was preparing to say something when the tables filled with food. Hungry children hurried to fill their plates and soon conversation was underway at each table, including that of the staff. Elizabeth glanced at her children and caught a brief smile from her son as Sebastian looked up to see his parent watching them.

Lunch ended soon enough and it was not long before students were beginning the last classes of the day and professors were glad to see the school day end as well. It would get easier; everyone knew that, as everyone became accustomed to the schedules and routines.

But within Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the darkness waited and started to grow.


	5. Hot Messes and Growing Anger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian has to come to grips with his difficulties but this does not hinder his quick action during a disaster. Meanwhile another student deals with their own problems.

In the weeks since the start of their first term, Sebastian and Emma had already made marks for themselves. The twins had demonstrated that they were indeed the children of their mother although both had also managed to get into trouble that their parents had never even considered. A group of students had started a bit of a ruckus in class that had required the intervention of Headmaster Leeds and had ended up in detention with Professor Tindwell, during which time the Potions classroom had gotten a deep cleaning like it had not had for many years.

Adelaide had spoken out about their mother and father and the twins had taken deep offense at it. As a result, they had hatched a plot to get even with her and the girl had walked right into the planned response, ending up stained brilliant yellow when a potion component had been swapped for something else. The problem was that the students that had helped the siblings had also swapped the component at several of the stations and the results had been extremely widespread.

The classroom had been enveloped in a cloud of yellow smoke that clung to anything that it touched. Horrified at the results of their plot, the twins had tried to cover up their involvement and were nearly successful in doing so, until one of the others involved gave them up in an effort to save herself. Elizabeth had been called to Headmaster Leeds office where she found two thoroughly subdued twins waiting for her arrival. Both had broken into tears at the sight of their parent as they realized that she would be less lenient than the headmaster had been.

It had been Elizabeth that suggested the detention rather than the use of magic to clean the classroom and in the end the children had been forced to use Muggle tools to clean up the mess that they had created. Adelaide had actually managed to avoid the punishment, much to her amazement, leaving the twins to face the fact that they were not immune to discipline and actually faced far more of it if their mother had to be involved.

The detention had lasted well into the night and it was a tired group of students who had finally been released when Professor Tindwell was finally satisfied with the results of the effort. Emma and her brother walked into the common room of Gryffindor House to find several older students waiting to speak to them. The upshot from the students, most of them Prefects, was that they would not tolerate misbehavior that cost the House points, especially fifty points. The first years had finally been released to go their dorms after the firm warnings had been delivered.

Since that experience, Emma had fallen into line with the expectations that her mother, and the rest of the professors, had set forth. The discipline from her mother had been far harsher than that meted out by the school. Sebastian, a bit more adventurous and less willing to accept boundaries than his sister, had managed to get himself into trouble again when he had managed to turn a classmate’s hair green with a spell that he didn’t fully understand.

The girl had been nearly frantic at the state of her tresses and Sebastian had been forced to endure another detention at the insistence of his parents.

Emma glanced up as her brother entered the classroom where they were working on things that they needed for an exam and grimaced as he sat down next to her. The other chairs in the room were full and, despite her pleas, Emma found her twin as her work partner.

“Please tell me that you didn’t get into trouble again, Sebastian,” she whispered.

He nodded quietly as Professor McGonagall drew nearer and the girl shook her blonde head at the news. Sebastian opened his book to the page indicated and soon was involved in the very chore that his sibling had already partially finished.

“It would help if you would spend as much time working on your parchments as you do daydreaming,” she continued after the professor had walked past and was out of earshot.

“I’ve already heard it from Professor Grims, Emma! I don’t need your lecturing too.”

The response, far louder than it should have been, drew the attention of McGonagall and it was not long before the witch was standing over the children of one of her favorite students.

“Mister Potter and Miss Potter, am I mistaken or did I not say that there was to be silence during this preparation for an exam?”

The twins nodded quietly as they looked up at the adult that towered over them.

“Ten points shall be taken from Gryffindor for your failure to follow directions.”

Emma nodded silently at the response from the professor while her brother clouded up immediately and then rose to rush out of the classroom. The girl fought the impulse to turn and watch her sibling’s departure and could only listen to what Professor McGonagall said next.

“And that little display of immaturity shall cost Gryffindor five more points as well as a visit to Professor Leeds.”

Emma looked up at the professor with saddened eyes and quietly whispered a response which should have come from her sibling.

“I’m sorry, Professor McGonagall.”

The witch nodded her understanding and reached down to caress the blonde hair of the child before moving on to the next student that needed her attention. Emma returned to the task before her while she wondered not about the reaction from Professor Leeds to her brother’s actions, but the response from their parents.

_‘You have gotten yourself into so much trouble, Sebastian! Mom and Dad are going to go mental about this one.’_

Sebastian had made his way to the very balcony that his mother had found so long before. He settled down onto it to think about what had happened and wonder how much trouble he had gotten himself into. Thoughts that could have mirrored those of his mother so many years before filled the mind of the boy as he thought about his sister.

_‘Why do they have to compare me to Em? I’m not her! Now they’re going to wig out on me and I’ll really catch it when they talk to me.’_

A POP sounded next to him and the boy looked up at a very stern looking Headmaster Leeds as the wizard looked down at him.

“Mister Potter, I would have thought that you would have reported to my office instead of this balcony. You had to have known that Professor McGonagall would have wanted you to do so. Is there some reason that you did not?”

The boy shook his head before looking at the wizard that had, with no small amount of groaning, managed to sit down next to him.

“No, sir, Professor Leeds, I just needed to think.”

“Not unlike your mother used to, Sebastian. She would often retreat to this very balcony when she needed time to reflect on things. The question, however, is what do we do about this happening? You walked out of class without permission and now there must be a consequence.”

Sebastian nodded and then looked down before answering.

“Is Gryffindor going to lose more points because of me?”

“Five points have already been taken by Professor McGonagall, Sebastian. But I fear that there is more that must happen to make this right.”

The boy looked up at the wizard sitting next to him and then answered.

“What do I have to do?”

“I believe that you likely already know, Sebastian Potter. It will be a most grievously painful experience for you.”

The eyes of the boy widened at the words that had been spoken.

“Painful?”

“Yes, terribly painful. Mister Potter, I am going to require you to apologize to Professor McGonagall and you are going to do it in front of the entire school. Tonight at dinner will be a very appropriate time as all will be assembled for the meal.”

“I have to do it in front of _everyone_ in the school?”

“I think that that would be an appropriate punishment. Until the current class is over with, I believe that you need to report to my office to continue your work.”

Sebastian rose as the wizard vanished with a POP. The boy walked quietly through the castle and finally arrived at the office of Tobias Leeds to find the door open and a desk and chair waiting for him. He settled down to begin work on the parchment that had appeared with the other items while he thought about the progress that his sister had likely already made on it.

‘I’ll get the answers that I need from Em.’

The boy glanced around the room and noticed one of the portraits seemed to be watching him. He looked at it curiously for a time before speaking.

“Excuse me, sir, but you seem to be looking at me as though you know me. I know that that is impossible, who are you?”

“Ah, young Mister Potter, one does not have to look at you long to realize who your grandfather was. You are, without a doubt, the grandson of Harry Potter, a boy that I watched grow up for most of the time that he was a student here at Hogwarts.”

“Then you are Professor Dumbledore?”

“I am.”

“You seem concerned about me, Professor Dumbledore, I can see it.”

“Mister Potter, you remind me a great deal of both your grandfather and your father. Both of them spent time in this very office and both of them spoke to me just as you are. Your mother, Elizabeth, was a fine student who brought much to Hogwarts when she came here from Beauxbatons. In time, she may one day sit behind the desk in this office but you, Sebastian; you I fear shall encounter difficulties. Your sister…”

“I’m not my sister!” the boy responded as his anger emerged.

“Please do not take offense, Sebastian,” Dumbledore answered as he held his hands up. “I know very well that you are not your sister. Emma is following the lead that your mother left, while you are favoring your father. He gave his professors more than a few headaches, as did your Uncle James, and had the same somewhat rebellious streak that sometimes appears in you. Now, do not take that to mean that I feel that Emma is perfect. She inherited the same independence that got your mother into trouble on more than a few occasions, but also has the same generous nature that your parent was well known for. But she is more, shall I say, devious when she decides to get into trouble.”

“Was my mother like that?”

The portrait paused for a moment as the subject within leaned his head back as if in thought before looking at the boy again and nodding silently.

“But she is a professor now.”

“She had a gift that others overlooked, through no fault of hers, and that gift served her well after she came to Hogwarts. In fact, a great number of people who would have faced enormous difficulties owe her a debt of gratitude for, if not for her generosity and forgiving nature, they would have been expelled or worse. Your own Great Grandfather Trane would have spent his life in Azkaban had she not gone before the Wizengamot and argued for his release. You have a great deal of her within you, Sebastian, and it would do you well to remember that. Be mindful of your actions, for there may not always be an Elizabeth Blackwell to save you.”

The boy nodded his understanding before the portrait spoke again.

“And you may want to rethink the idea about getting your answers from your sister, she does not have the same charitable frame of thought that your mother had. You may receive the wrong answers again, just as you did in Herbology class.”

“She didn’t show me the mark that she got on that parchment! Did she…?”

“She did extremely well and did not appreciate your request. You are not your sister, Sebastian, you are yourself and it is up to you to find your own path and the answers that go with it, even in Herbology and Transfiguration class.”

Sebastian noted with satisfaction the wink that he received from the portrait and smiled in return. He looked down at the parchment in front of him and then spoke.”

“Professor Dumbledore, you taught Transfiguration, can you help…?”

His glance upward ended the question as he saw that the portrait was asleep and he looked back down at his work to set his mind to it.

_‘Well, if Em won’t give me the answers, I guess that I will just have to find them for myself.’_

The boy read over the section that he had been assigned and soon found that, if he actually read what he needed to, the work was easy to accomplish. He rose as the bells announced the end of the class and hurried down to meet his classmates as they entered Potions. Emma watched her brother and wondered how much trouble he had gotten into. She picked up her quill and turned her attention to Professor Tindwell’s board as the seemingly unending writing began on it. There was a potion to work on after this and she wanted to get to it as soon as possible.

Professor Tindwell watched the first years as they wrote and was impressed. Since the trouble that the Potter twins had been involved in, the class had been fairly docile. The children had evidently learned from their mistakes and he had nothing but the highest hopes for them, after all, they were the offspring of two of the finest students that he could remember having in his classroom. He was also impressed by Adelaide Malfoy who, although not descended from highly talented stock, was extremely capable of the work in his classroom. She actually was among the top students in this year.

Ashanti Jordan was a bit of a mystery to him because he did not remember her parents, although her grandfather had been extremely highly thought of by many at Hogwarts. He had worked with Lee Jordan on several occasions and was a firm friend of the wizard. He had earned a great deal of respect in their world and Professor Tindwell wondered if his own contributions would be thought of as strongly.

As the students finished with their copying of the information that was on his board, they rose to walk to their cauldrons to continue with the potion that they had been assigned to produce as their assignment. Of course, as first years, the potions were not complicated and not necessarily dangerous, unless the wrong components were introduced.

Emma glanced at her brother and was pleasantly surprised that he didn’t have the “please give me the answers from your parchment” look on his face when his eyes met hers. Something had evidently happened and, although she didn’t care what it had been, she was grateful. It would make things less contentious between them and keep their parents out of it. As much as she hated to have to deal with one of the other professors, Emma really didn’t want to face the wrath of her mother. Elizabeth Blackwell-Potter was more than capable of delivering discipline to her offspring. The girl knew, as her brother did, that their parent expected more from them than she did other students and although Emma didn’t like it, she understood it.

Ashanti looked down into the potion that she had started the day before and had allowed to simmer overnight. The ingredient that she needed to add was waiting on the table next to her cauldron and she picked up the container to carefully sift the contents into the hot liquid below.

Cautiously she opened the container and then began to sprinkle the green powder into the very hot liquid that the cauldron contained. All had been cautioned about introducing the powder too swiftly for fear of making the liquid portion to their creation bubble up and out of the cauldron. It was incapable of creating an explosion but more than able to produce painful burns if it met bare skin.

She watched as the green powder vanished into the hot mixture and gasped as the now green liquid began to rise towards the rim of her cauldron. Backing away in fear she accidently dropped the container that she held into the roiling potion.

The effect was instant.

A sudden noise announced that something was going very wrong and the swift backwards retreat of the girl did much to reinforce this belief. Emma had her back to the other girl and turned at the last moment to see the girl closing on her in reverse. There was a collision coming and the blonde girl’s eyes widened as she watched a green wave exit the cauldron of the other student. In that instant of hesitation on the part of Emma Ashanti backed into her friend, shoving the other girl against her own cauldron and eliciting a squeal of pain from Emma as the hot metal transferred its heat through her robes.

The pain made the girl drop her own container of powder into the cauldron that she was working at. Instantly the potion began its own climb towards the edge of Emma’s cauldron. It would spill over any second and the girls were far too close to get away.

Sebastian saw the peril that his sister and their classmate were in. Ignoring the danger and the shouted instructions coming from Professor Tindwell, he raced forward to seize the arm of his sibling and pull her away from the catastrophe before almost hurling her to safety. He gasped as some of the scalding liquid impacted his hand as he grabbed the stricken Ashanti and jerked her towards safety while the green liquid spread out over the floor.

Then, and only then, did he make his own escape by leaping up onto a bench and traversing it to a safe place. Upon his arrival beside his class, the boy hurried to the side of his twin. Emma was hurt, there was no doubt about it and his only concern at the moment, even more than his own pain, was for the person that he had shared his mother’s womb with.

Emma was seated on the floor, leaning against the doorframe, while she clutched her middle. Pain was racing through her mid-section and she looked up gratefully as her brother arrived. He had saved her and at cost to himself. She could see the severe burn on his hand but had no time to look at it further before she lost consciousness. A moment later a very concerned Tobias Leeds appeared, scooped up the injured child as well as instructing her brother to take ahold of his robes, and then vanished with a POP.

Ashanti Jordan stood quietly away from the mess while she looked at the place where her friends had been. She quietly hoped that they would be okay and wondered just what was going to happen to her.

She was still standing there when the class ended and other students, none of them injured in the slightest, brushed past her with some of them doing it not so gently.

“Some friend you are, Jordan,” a passerby hissed at her.

The girl miserably walked down to her seat to retrieve her things before hurrying out of the room in tears.

Sebastian was seated on a bed with a poultice on his hand while the nurse and a healer dealt with the injuries that Emma had sustained. He looked up to see his mother rush into the room and accepted the hug that she offered before she hurried to the side of her daughter.

“She’s going to be fine, Professor Potter. She will need to go to St. Mungo’s for treatment but she shall be fine. These potion and cauldron burns are always nasty but she should be back on her feet in a day or two at the most. Would you like to talk to her?”

Elizabeth nodded as tears ran down her face. She stepped to her child’s side and looked down at her daughter.

“Emma? I’m here, Emma, Mom is right here beside you.”

The young girl opened her eyes and then smiled weakly before speaking.

“Sebastian saved me and Ashanti from the potion, Mom. He pulled us away so that we didn’t get really hurt. I think that he got burned helping us, Mom. Is he okay?”

“I’m right here, Em,” Sebastian answered and Elizabeth turned to see her son standing next to her. “They said that I am going to be just fine.”

The young girl smiled at the thought and then looked up at the healer that had arrived at her side.

“You, young lady, are going on a trip to St. Mungo’s. You’ll be there for a day or two but you should be fine. Your brother is quite the hero, if he hadn’t pulled you out of there you would have been in real trouble.”

“But where’s Ashanti?”

“No one knows right now,” Elizabeth answered, “but as soon as I know that you and your brother are okay we will find her. You have my promise on that.”

“Find her please, Mom. I don’t want her to think that I hate her for this.”

“I will.”

Elizabeth and Sebastian watched as the healer, Emma and the bed that she was on all vanished with a loud POP. The boy was shooed back to his bed and then their mother hurried to leave Hogwarts to make her way to the wizarding hospital.

Prefects and professors fanned out to find the missing student but none thought to look in a place where finding anything would be difficult.

Ashanti sat curled on the floor of the rain forest while she cried. Emma would hate her, she just knew it, because a lot of other people already hated her. Not for the first time in her young life she felt anger growing and now it threatened to spill out.

She just wondered what would happen if it did.


	6. Growing Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While one student comes to grips with the accident another makes plans that may cause the old ways of thinking to reemerge

With his sister safely at St. Mungos Sebastian had joined the search for Ashanti knowing that his sister would want her friend found and quickly. The boy knew that the other girl had meant nothing ill toward his sister, it had all been an unfortunate series of accidents that had resulted thankfully in only two people being injured.

If that had been all that occurred the incident likely would have stayed within the classroom although certainly stories about it would have spread through the ancient castle like wildfire, and likely were. There was no discipline pending towards Ashanti, but the rumors themselves would do more than a little bit of harm to the girl. She could become an outcast and very probably would find it hard to find people that would listen to her side of the story without forming opinions of their own.

While a good portion of the school searched for her, Ashanti had finally moved closer to the exit of the room that had become a rainforest. As strange as it seemed, there appeared to be no way of getting lost within this place. Obviously Emma and Sebastian’s mother had planned that no matter how thickly grown the paths became there was no chance of one losing their way. This room was obviously as safe for the students as the rest of the castle was. Every contingency had been thought of including food, water and even a lavatory for someone to use should they be trapped in the place for long.

Ashanti was afraid, not of the other students or what they thought of her, but of what she thought herself. More than once she had awakened terrified of the dark and menacing thoughts that had flooded through her mind unfettered while she had been resting. This had been a problem for her for as long as she could remember and she had no idea why she had been so afflicted.

It was just as much a mystery to her as it was to all that her family had approached about it in an effort to help the girl.

The dreams, nightmares or thoughts, whatever they were, had begun abruptly one night and had only increased with intensity and frequency.

 _‘What is going on with me?’_ she thought to herself. _‘Am I turning into something bad, like that old wizard that Emma’s grandpa beat in a duel?’_

Clearly sitting in the transfigured classroom was not something that she could do for the rest of her life, she could not even do it for the remainder of the day. She was concerned about what had become of her friend, Emma. She knew that the witch who ran the hospital wing would not have been able to treat the wounds that her friend had received and so likely she had been taken to the hospital. She really hoped that Emma would be okay so that they could pick up on their favorite pastime which was discussing the many first, and even second year or older, boys that were here at Hogwarts.

She and the other girls often made great sport of admiring their male schoolmates and giggling about who liked who in school. Emma had her eye on a boy from Hufflepuff who was a second year while Ashanti’s tastes had been filled by a fourth year Slytherin. Both girls knew that their chances of actually netting the boys that they liked were vanishingly small, but it was still fun to look and fantasize about the opposite gender.

Even at their age they realized that they had a while to wait before their fantasies could be realized.

She was deep in thought when the door to the classroom opened and Professor McGonagall entered.

“Miss Jordan, explain yourself! You have half of the castle looking for you and the remainder of it frightened for your well-being. Have you been in here the entire time?”

“Yes, Professor McGonagall,” the girl sniffled. “I was afraid that everyone was angry with me about what happened to Emma. I really didn’t mean for it to happen, the potion started rising and I got scared and accidently dropped the rest of the powder in. It all happened so fast and I didn’t know what to do so I backed up and shoved her against her cauldron and she got hurt. Then Sebastian got hurt trying to get both Emma and I out of there. I’m really sorry and don’t want everyone mad at me.”

Minerva McGonagall listened carefully as a child whose grandfather had been one of her students so long ago explained her regrets and fears. The aging witch sensed no attempts at deceit and realized that the girl was telling the truth. She also understood that the child had employed a tactic not uncommon when faced with something completely out of her control. Ashanti’s flight response had kicked in and she had sought out a refuge. Now all was well and she could set about calming herself.

“Miss Jordan, Emma Potter is at St. Mungos being treated for her injuries and I am told is doing quite well. Her brother, Sebastian, is also doing well and is among those searching for you. He is quite concerned about you, as is their mother. You have true friends in that family, any other family I could not be so certain about, but the Potter’s are exceptional people and you could not do better for companionship.”

Ashanti nodded her understanding quietly before they stepped out of the rain forest together.

“Professor McGonagall,” she asked, “did Professor Potter really do all of that when she was a student here at Hogwarts?”

“Not all of it, but a great deal was accomplished before the end of her seventh year. Since then she has added to it frequently, although a great deal of what you will find in there comes from inspiration provided by students. The most wonderful thing is, even if it is not during her class, if you have an idea you can feel free to talk to her. You might just add something new to that realm.”

The young girl looked up at the adult with wide eyes before grinning. Seeing this, Professor McGonagall spoke again.

“Your expression tells me that you have an idea, but just as a bit of advice be aware that Professor Potter loves the unusual. Ideas that might seem strange to others quite frequently find their way into her rain forest.”

“Like her cat?”

McGonagall stopped to look into the dark eyes of the girl.

“What about her cat?”

“I know that Tiger isn’t really a cat, he’s something else.”

“And just what is he?”

“He’s a Kneazle, a part Kneazle anyway.”

“And how do you know this?”

“My grandfather has one and he is just like Tiger.”

Professor McGonagall smiled at this as she nodded. The girl was very intelligent, for not many students could have correctly guessed the true nature of Elizabeth Blackwell-Potter’s pet and long-time companion.

“Well done, Miss Jordan, you are quite correct. Professor Potter’s pet _is_ a Kneazle and is quite a powerful one. Given the right provocation, he would be a force to be reckoned with and I would not want to be the one who provoked him. It might turn out to be a very unfortunate situation for an imprudent witch or wizard.”

Ashanti smiled at this comment before speaking again.

“I also happen to know this because Emma mentioned it while we were talking.”

“I should have known,” McGonagall replied, “because I have seen how close you and Miss Potter are.”

“Professor McGonagall, am I going to be punished?”

The pair stopped as the witch looked into the eyes of the student.

“Miss Jordan, I shall not punish you but there are a number of professors and Prefects who have been searching for you, not to mention a headmaster. Any one of them could administer loss of points for your disappearance. While I cannot be certain, I would assume that Gryffindor House shall lose points because of this.”

The girl hung her head as they resumed their walk and it was not long before Professor Leeds appeared next to them with a POP.

“Miss Jordan, I am very pleased to find you well and in the company of a staff member. You had the entire castle very concerned about you and they will be happy to learn that you are safe. Until then, however, I must deal with this behavior by taking five points from Gryffindor if Professor McGonagall has not already done so.”

“We were just discussing that, Professor Leeds. I had told Miss Jordan that while I was not going to take points someone else might decide to.”

“And so I have and that is the end of it, no further punishment will be meted out to you or Gryffindor for this incident. Now, I assume that Professor McGonagall is returning you to Gryffindor Tower and while she is doing that the portraits will inform all that you have been located and that further searching is unnecessary.”

The young girl nodded before watching the headmaster vanish with a POP. Ashanti, long used to such occurrences, knew that the wizard was already wherever he wished to go and wondered what it would be like to apparate whenever she wanted to. That ability, although she already knew how to do it courtesy of tutoring by her parents and grandparents, was still several years in the future according to Ministry of Magic doctrine. Performing magic such as apparation at her current age would lead to serious repercussions from the ruling body of the Wizarding World.

“Miss Jordan, shall we move on?”

Jolted out of her thoughts by the voice of the older witch the girl fell back into step with the professor and they soon were arriving at the Great Hall where students were settling down for the final meal of the day. Ashanti hurried away from the adult and soon was taking a seat at the Gryffindor table. She had no sooner been seated when Sebastian was sitting down next to her.

“Ashanti, are you okay? We’ve all been searching for you.”

“I found a place to sit and think about the accident. Is Emma okay?”

“She’s fine,” the boy answered, “the healers at St. Mungos say that she should be out of the hospital tomorrow. She can’t wait to get back here, she really is very worried about you.”

“She’s not mad at me?”

“Mad at you? Why would she be mad at you?”

“I caused her and you to get burned.”

“Ashanti, it was an accident. You didn’t mean to drop the vial into the potion and so why would we be mad at you?”

The girl looked into the eyes of the boy that she was speaking to before lowering her own.

“Is your mother angry with me?”

“I dunno,” he answered, “why don’t you ask her yourself?”

Ashanti noticed movement near her and turned to look up into the eyes of Professor Elizabeth Potter. There was a stern look in the eyes of the older witch and the girl lowered her eyes once again.

“I’m sorry, Professor Potter, I didn’t mean to cause Sebastian and Emma to get hurt.”

Elizabeth sat down next to the girl and then reached forward to gently grasp the chin of the child to lift her face.

“I am not angry with you about that, Ashanti. I could never be angry with a student because of an accident. But I am a bit concerned that you, like my son, have decided to avoid problems by going into hiding. I used to do that myself when I was a student here and it solved nothing.”

The witch paused before again speaking to both students.

“I want you both to know that there is nothing here at Hogwarts that cannot be solved by speaking to someone about it, unless you have decided to become the next Tom Riddle.”

Both children smiled at this comment and Elizabeth knew that she was making headway.

“Ashanti, if you need a place to think about things then you may certainly use the rain forest as long as you let someone know where you are going to be. Sebastian, the same goes for you if you decide to use that balcony again. I certainly remember going there to think when I was in need of it. Now, am I understood by the both of you?”

“Yes, Professor Potter,” the children answered in unison.

“Good and I should tell you that Emma will be back in school the day after tomorrow. She will be released from St. Mungos tomorrow but I am keeping her out of class until the next day.”

Abruptly the table in front of the group was filled with food and, as she was sitting almost in her former normal place, Elizabeth settled down to eat her meal there much to the surprise of the children.

“I used to sit here when I was a student and, since there are no rules against it, I suppose that I can eat here tonight just for old time sake.”

The children were soon eating their meals and Elizabeth was actually able to see herself at this very table and spot with Lily, Beatrice, Rose and Albus sitting near her. Conversations not unlike what she had carried on with her friends went on around her and she felt a tear slide down her face as these memories replayed themselves. The thoughts were complete when a bowl full of Cherry Crisp appeared before her and she scooped some onto her plate.

Around them students who had imagined the witch, who was the youngest staff member, as unapproachable realized that she was actually very friendly. She talked freely with any student who approached her and made certain that any who needed extra help in her class felt at ease with seeking her out.

Across the huge room, Adelaide watched the professor as the older witch sat among students.

“She shouldn’t be allowed to do that,” the girl hissed, “she’s going to play favorites with everyone but us. Typical of a Gryffindor.”

“Be careful of what you say and how loud you say it, Adelaide,” an older girl answered.

“What do you mean, Sarah? After this half of the term I don’t have to take her class again.”

“I guess that you have not heard the news then. From what I hear you may be taking classes with her for the rest of your time here.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because the Ministry of Magic is talking about making her class a requirement for all years. There is also the possibility that she will take over teaching Transfiguration after Professor McGonagall retires at the end of this term. Either way that it goes, you are going to be sitting in a classroom while she teaches you. By the way, about what I said before, she can be less than understanding when you make her angry. It takes a lot to do that, but last term a boy managed to do that and paid big time. She had him doing lines for days while she watched.”

“She can’t make me do lines, I will refuse to do it.”

“Then, in that case, be prepared to spend a lot of time in the Isolation Tower until you decide to do them. If that doesn’t get to you expulsion will. She has never recommended expulsion that I know of but I wouldn’t press it with her because you would lose. Once she has her mind made up you don’t change it.”

The girl glanced at her brother and then back to the girl that she had been speaking to. Clearly this older student was a member of the “other” Slytherin, the students who had decided that they didn’t want the old problems to resurface. These students, with a sense of compliance, tended to excel in classes and many had aspirations to one day do what Elizabeth Blackwell-Potter had done. A number of them had actually become members of P.E.T.S. with her recommendation and support.

“I don’t care, I won’t listen to her no matter what she does or says.”

“You’re going to have either a very long seven years or a very short first. People like you, who can’t get past the old ways of thinking, don’t tend to have a very good outcome.”

“Maybe it will be people like YOU, people who are too scared to stand up for themselves that won’t have the good outcome! Did you ever think of that?”

“Nothing that you can do or say frightens me, Adelaide. You’re a first year and, from what I have heard, not much of one at that. My father says that your family ran from here during the battle with Voldemort’s army, he says that all of you are cowards that are only good at talking and not much more. Frankly, Adelaide, if I want your opinion on anything I will give it to you myself. And don’t bother bringing Abraxas into it because I’m not frightened of him either. The best thing that you and he could do with your wand would be to drill out the core and put lead in its place. At least then you could use it to write with the way that Muggle kids do. You aren’t much more capable than they are anyhow.”

The professors at the High Table noticed the looming confrontation before it became physical and it was Flitwick’s wand that stopped the slap before it could land. Adelaide went totally stiff, her arms clapping to her sides and her legs locking together a moment before the older girl helped her gently to the floor, and then turned back to her meal while laughing about it with her friends.

Abraxas could only watch in anger as his sister was dealt with by the diminutive wizard. Satisfied with his result, Flitwick went back to his meal, certain that the girl would be just fine until the meal was over.

Adelaide was completely conscious as she was laid on the floor and yet could not move a muscle. This frightened her somewhat although she knew that the curse would soon be dispelled. While she lay there her eyes could take in everything that she saw and her ears were privy to the conversations that were taking place, many of them about her which was something that infuriated her immensely.

It made her almost as angry as watching the Gryffindor students eat their meal with a professor had.

Abraxas watched as his sister was hit with the Full Body Bind and shook his head. Not much really had changed, the staff still took the side of any student who didn’t happen to think the way that Slytherin students once had.

 _‘There has to be a way to bring the old beliefs back,’_ he thought. _“If we could then the other Houses wouldn’t laugh at those of us that want it to be that way anymore. I’d love to teach Professor Potter’s kids a lesson or two about respect for the name Malfoy, but as long as their mother is a professor I have to leave them alone.’_

While her brother thought about Professor Potter, Adelaide was thinking about Professor Flitwick. He had done this to her and was letting everyone laugh about her predicament. As she lay there she thought about how to get even with the professor.

 _‘I can’t let him get away with this,’_ she thought, _‘something has to be done to teach the little runt a lesson. All that I need to do is figure out how to do it and get away with it.’_

It was only when she had completely missed dessert that the girl found that she could move again and it was not long before she was back on her feet, refusing help from anyone that attempted it. The older girl shook her head and then walked away with several girls from her own year, giggling frequently as they looked back over their shoulders at the first year that was trembling with rage.

_‘They’re all going to pay for what they are doing. I’m going to make them wish that they had never even heard of me and I’m going to do it in front of all of Hogwarts. Let them find out what it feels like to have everyone laughing at them.’_

The first year dusted off her robes and then fell into step with students from her year and House. As she walked she wondered just how and when she could do what she was planning.

And while she thought about it, Adelaide Malfoy smiled broadly.


	7. Adelaide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Malfoy than some, Adelaide bristles about the way that Hogwarts is. But there is another problem looming on th horizon, something that has the potential for dire consequences for all.

The next morning broke brightly over the castle that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It even managed to somewhat brighten the common room of Slytherin House by shining down into the water. Normally this might not have been possible due to the depth of the water, but an enterprising student who had finished at the school had cast a charm that allowed the light to reach the massive windows. Some of the students that had followed the graduate disliked the effect and had attempted to dispel the magic only to find that a permanency had been cast upon the item that radiated the spell. That item, and no one at the school knew just what it had been, now lay safely somewhere in the lake secure from discovery.

Adelaide Malfoy stepped out of her dormitory room and growled at the light that was filtering into the chamber. Their father had often told the children about the wonderful darkness that surrounded the room, but the spell had laid waste to that.

Older, and less tolerant, Slytherin who came to visit their old realm often reacted with distaste at the change that had occurred. Some had even tried to summon the object that radiated the magic, often with comical consequences.

One wizard had assumed that it was likely a coin that had been enchanted and then dropped into the water. Sitting in a boat in the middle of the lake and at a spot that was very close to being above the windows he had cast a summoning spell.

And soon he regretted it.

“ _Accio coin_ ,” he had announced as he attempted to remove what he saw as a curse on his former House.

Abruptly the boat was filled to the top with coins of all descriptions, even some that no one could identify.

They were that old and obscure.

The effect was that the boat, its cargo of coins and the wizard were suddenly plummeting to the bottom of the lake. He was fished out, of course, his robes soaked completely and his wand laying somewhere below deep under the water. Ranting with fury about the loss of the wand and his near drowning, although he had not actually been in any danger, the man had apparated away from the scene as he vowed to never return.

Still others had believed that the item had been a rock but, after seeing what had happened with the coins, they had decided that it likely was best not to summon what they sought. None of them really wanted to be pummeled and then buried by stones that hurtled out of the water of the lake.

Interest in locating the item gradually faded and the effected students had learned to live with the situation. Only occasionally did someone, usually a first year, broach the subject only to be swiftly told about what had happened to those who had attempted to do something about it in the past.

Adelaide growled again and then returned to her dorm room to finish preparing for the day. She was incredibly angry yet about the occurrence the evening before when she had spent part of the meal time in a body bind and lying on the floor while listening to people laugh about her predicament.

She really did not know what she could do to Professor Flitwick, or even one of the older students who had made light of her situation, but she intended to figure something out. She also wanted to deal with Professor Potter. The girl really had no idea why her family disliked the witch so much, except for her punishment of Abraxas the term before.

Their father had said more than a few unsavory things about the witch and had made her and her sibling more than glad that their grandparents had prevented Elizabeth Blackwell from becoming their mother.

“Get a move on, Malfoy,” a Prefect announced after a quick poke of her head into the room revealed the procrastinator. “If you’re late to first hour class for any reason I will make certain that you pay for it with detention. The toilets always need cleaning and I know for a fact that there is an old Muggle tool for doing that somewhere in the castle. I can make certain that your hand gets acquainted with it while you clean the way a Muggle would.”

Adelaide thought about saying something in response but something the in expression that the older girl wore on her face changed her mind. She was not certain what a Muggle might use to clean a toilet but really did not want to find out.

There were a _lot_ of toilets in Hogwarts Castle.

The Prefect stepped back out of the room after making certain that the first year had no cheeky response planned and left Adelaide to her preparations. The young girl hurried to get ready and soon was rushing out of the warren of tunnels to catch up with the remainder of her House as they walked to the Great Hall for breakfast.

When she arrived with the others from her house she noticed the presence of both of the Potter twins. Emma was not attending classes today but had been released from St. Mungos and was preparing to enjoy breakfast with the rest of her House. The other girl really didn’t look any worse for the wear and this disappointed Adelaide. She would have preferred to see Emma Potter out of school for several days, if not weeks. That would have made Sebastian an easy target because it was already quite apparent that the boy was nowhere near as formidable as his twin was.

Sebastian Potter was good with his wand, but not anywhere good enough.

There was also Ashanti Jordan to contend with. The girl’s grandfather had gone to school with her own and they had known each other very well. They had known each other but that had been as far as it went. Draco Malfoy had not tended to treat that Gryffindor any better than he had the rest of the followers of Godric.

Why would have he? Everyone knew that the followers of Salazar were superior to all of the pretenders. It was for this reason that the girl adored her grandfather and had sat transfixed for hours as he told her about his exploits while a student at Hogwarts.

She settled down at her seat while also casting a venomous glare at Professor Flitwick. The little runt had humiliated her the evening before and that was something that she was not going to soon forget. She knew a few things about magic, courtesy of her parents, grandparents and great-grandfather that few suspected. They had taught the child things that the professors at the school, and the Ministry of Magic, would have preferred that they hadn’t and would have likely dealt with harshly if they had known.

As she ate, she frequently reached down to gently slide her fingers over the smooth surface of the walnut wand that had chosen her. Like the wand of the great Bellatrix LeStrange, it was unbending and refused to yield. It was, in every way, the superior in the relationship that it had with the girl. It would serve her, but only as long as its desires were met.

Sebastian looked across the large room at the girl that hated Emma and he so much. He had heard stories about the Malfoy clan, although his mother had done her best to instill in her children that they needed to look past the stories in order to see the people that they were about. Two Malfoy sisters, Alexis and Ariel, had gone to school at Hogwarts at the same time that she had. While Alexis had initially been volatile she had eventually come around when she realized that Elizabeth Blackwell-Potter was not the enemy that she had perceived her to be. Ariel had also become good friends with his mother and they traded owls frequently.

The girl had angered him with what she had said about their friend Ashanti. She had actually claimed that the other girl had done what she had on purpose, that Ashanti had meant to harm both Emma and he. Adelaide had even started rumors that Ashanti had been telling everyone that she intended to hurt the other children, or worse.

Of course, the rumors had been quashed immediately by the professors and the girl had faced punishment that she cared little about.

“Go ahead and punish me if you want, I don’t care,” she had yelled at Professor Leeds when he had confronted her. “It won’t make me feel any different about any of them. It’s just too bad that they didn’t get hurt worse.”

The result had been threatened with time in the Isolation Tower, something that had produced little effect on the girl other than to enrage her. Only the threat of possible expulsion had made any sort of favorable turn in her behavior and this was a rather welcome development both for Slytherin House and those who had to sit in class with her.

Adelaide Malfoy had managed to lose thirty points for her House in a very short amount of time.

Sebastian returned to his meal while his sister chatted happily with her friends. He glanced at the person that had followed his birth only minutes later with her own and smiled. She was his sister, yeah she was a pain the rear sometimes, but he still loved her and would defend her fiercely if he had to.

Emma winced slightly as her mid-section brushed slightly against the edge of the table. It wasn’t terrible pain, but it had enough presence to remind her that it was there. She and Ashanti had been carrying on a lively, giggly conversation and she had already informed many who blamed the other girl for the accident that it had been just that, an accident. The other students had been informed that she did not blame Ashanti for anything and that she wanted the cold shoulder that her friend had been receiving to end. In the end it had all come down to one thing, and Emma Victoria Potter had made it extremely clear.

If the others wanted to be her friends they needed to let it all go, because she certainly had and wanted to put it all behind her.

Only the hardest cases had resisted her efforts and were soon put into the position that they either bent to her will or they left her and Ashanti alone. There was no middle ground and her mind was made up on that.

Their mother had been impressed with the handling of the situation by her daughter. Elizabeth had been steadily distancing herself from the daily lives of her offspring other than the time that they spent in her classroom. The last thing that she wanted them to have to do was to be put into the position of being called professor’s pets because she was their mother.

Adelaide had turned her attention to Professor Potter and had snarled inwardly. Something within her saw the witch as a dangerous enemy and therefore something that would need to be dealt with.

_‘It would be so easy if I had a chance while she is on one of the sets of stairs. A simple shove and over the rail she would go. She would look like a stepped on Flobber Worm and I wouldn’t even have to touch her. A careful flick of my wand and over she will go. Maybe I could get one or both of them if I am lucky.’_

The girl smiled at this thought. She knew that she could never speak openly about what she had thought. That would get her likely expelled immediately with no chance of ever being able to return to Hogwarts. She would be forced to relinquish her wand so that it could be destroyed and then forced to return home to live a life that normally was reserved for a Squib.

While that bothered her, it did not bother her near as much as the reaction that her family would have should it happen. They would be enraged, it would be yet another incredible loss of face for the clan which had already suffered many such occurrences. It might actually be enough of a disgrace that her parents could potentially decide to send her away to live with relatives that often took in the blackest of sheep in a troubled family. The girl had met them only once in her short life and had not been impressed with them.

They did not live in a fine home, or have wonderful things within the place that they lived. In fact, they did not even call themselves Malfoy. It had a purpose because, without that name for others to dwell upon, they were able to live a rather normal non-wizarding life. All of them had been expelled from one school or another and had come to accept it. Instead of being bitter about what had happened they had turned their attentions to living their lives as best as they could.

She shuddered at the thought of being sent so far away from her parents, grandparents and great-grandfather. Being away from her brother really wasn’t much of a problem for her, they were normal siblings and fought frequently. But being away from those who were the most tolerant of her idiosyncrasies would likely drive her out of her mind, especially if she was denied use of the magic that she felt that she was incredible at performing.

The girl settled back to breakfast and watched with amusement as Emma Potter reached for something that she desired.

_‘If only I could use my wand to give her a face full of that stuff. She would probably run crying out of the hall and prove to all what a baby she really is. I can just see her running through the halls bawling her eyes out and dripping that mess all over the floors. Leeds would be furious with her and it would be fun to see her get into trouble again.’_

She wanted to stick her tongue out at the other girl but remembered that Flitwick was likely watching her. Right now the last thing that she wanted was to have him use his wand against her again. She had heard the story about how a student had done that in his classroom only to have him cast a spell at her and cause her tongue to grow out of her mouth at an incredible rate. It had actually gotten so big that it had been dragging the floor and people had to be careful not to step on it.

Right now was not the time or place to do such a thing, especially when Adelaide Malfoy could think of much nastier things to do to the other girl.

When the meal ended students and staff rose to move their destinations for this time of the day. The first years hurried to class because, at this point in the term, there were no longer any viable excuses for being late to class. Being late to any class, without an adequate excuse, was enough to lose a large number of points for your House and the upper classmen really tended to frown on this. In many ways they were much harsher on a person who had lost points than any of the staff or Prefects could be. There were a lot more of them to worry about and the guilty party never knew when they might be encountered in a dimly lit corridor.

A great number of magical and non-magical things could happen, and many were not pleasant at all.

Adelaide walked towards her first class ignoring the other first years, even those from Slytherin, as they walked along chattering happily. The girl had succeeded in distancing herself from the other students in her year and really was not concerned about it. She had always been a loner and was quite content with that status. Praise, unless it came from her parents, grandparents or great-grandfather, seemed to slide off of her back like water would that of a duck.

Professor after professor at Hogwarts had done all that they could think of doing to bring her around to a more comfortable way of thinking, but to no avail. The Malfoy girl had made up her mind and nothing was going to change it.

Sebastian reached his seat and settled down into it, while at the same time glancing longingly at the empty seat that his twin would normally occupy. School was not the same without her presence and he, although he would not admit it out loud, missed her terribly.

It was almost as if what their mother said was actually true. He and Emma had been together in her womb, very tight quarters, for the first months of their lives and now would hate to be apart. They were a part of each other irrevocably.

He glanced up as Professor McGonagall stepped to the front of the room. Although he had yet to have had the witch for an entire term he knew that he was going to miss her once she was gone. She made Transfiguration class a lot of fun, especially when you paid attention. The boy still found it hard to believe that this professor had seen his parents and grandparents as students in her class. That was a long time to do what she had been doing and yet she still seemed to enjoy the task.

The boy also knew that he was not alone in knowing that he was going to miss her once she was gone.

Although he knew that he was going to miss Professor McGonagall once she was gone, he wondered how he would like it for his mother to take over the class. Professor Elizabeth Potter was a dedicated taskmistress that refused to allow shirking of responsibility from any of her students, especially her son and daughter. All of the children knew that it was very likely that the professor that they now faced in Elfish Studies would be their Transfiguration instructor when the new term started after the summer.

Already an Elfish elder had been found who was willing to teach the class and the consensus was that he would be teaching at the school. This had produced a near revolt from some of the Slytherin students and their parents. The thought of a being who was of more use as a slave being allowed to teach was almost more than they could stand and a great deal of argument had been sent to the Department of Magical Studies in the Ministry of Magic.

The arguments had been swiftly put down.

“Class,” McGonagall announced, “I need for all of you to open your texts and read the assignment that is on the board. Once that is done you need to study your notes for the exam that is to follow. There will be no need to draw your wands today.”

A number of groans echoed quietly through the room telling the elderly witch that many of her charges had neglected to prepare for the very real possibility of an exam. She quietly returned to her seat and watched as the children set about their task.

Adelaide watched as Professor McGonagall returned to her own reading and was almost ready to speak out when a nearly inaudible voice echoed through her mind.

_‘Don’t do it! Now is not the time to do what you are planning. The time to deal with them will come soon enough and it will be when they are not ready for what it coming. Be patient and you shall be greatly rewarded. Then those who look down on you will tremble at the sound of your name.’_

Startled by what was going on, the girl squeaked and dropped her book while at the same time looking wide eyed at the children around her. All of them were looking at her strangely and a sudden shadow told her that McGonagall had left her seat and now was standing over her.

“Is there a problem, Miss Malfoy?”

She whirled to look up at the adult and shook her head.

“Then I assume that your disturbance of this class will be a solitary happening. Anything further shall result in loss of points for Slytherin House.”

“Yes, Professor McGonagall.”

The young girl watched as the witch turned on her heel and then strode silently back to where she had been sitting. Adelaide was puzzled by what had happened. She knew that she had heard a voice, but no one else in the room around her seemed to have. They had merely seemed annoyed by the disruption that she had produced during the time that they had to study.

Quietly she shook her head before opening the book before her and beginning to read. She wondered whose voice she had heard. Whoever they were, they had almost gotten her into trouble and they were going to be sorry when she found out their identity.

Unheard by all, a light sigh sounded within the classroom of Professor Minerva McGonagall.


	8. A New Understanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adelaide speaks with the headmaster amid the confusion that she is feeling.

Emma stretched and yawned in bed the next morning as other first year girls began to stir as well. She opened her eyes and looked around to see the Ashanti was already out of bed to begin the trek to the room where they could shower before dressing for the day. Hurrying to catch up with her friend, Emma nearly leapt out of bed and soon was next to the other girl as they entered their destination while at the same time carrying on a lively conversation.

“Will you be in class today?” Ashanti asked while they waited for available shower stalls.

“Yeah, Mom wanted me to wait until today and I feel a lot better than I did. Besides, I don’t want to get behind in studying and talking to my friend.”

Ashanti’s dark face broke into a dazzling smile at the words of her friend as the young girls hugged. They were so different in appearance, but the differences stopped there. A bond had formed between them and neither could see a reason for that to ever be broken. As far as they were concerned they had found a friend for life.

“What’s it like, Emma?”

“What’s what like?”

“Your grandpa is famous! Everyone knows who Harry Potter is. All you have to do is to say something about him and everybody knows who you are talking about.”

“I guess. All that I know is that he is a great grandpa. I can talk to him anytime about anything and he understands. Great-grandfather Trane would have gone to Azkaban but didn’t because Grandpa told the Wizengamot what he had done to save someone.”

“Azkaban! I hear that that is a terrible place. People that go there mostly don’t come back, not ever!”

“That’s why you shouldn’t do bad things that would bring the Aurors.”

“Your grandpa and dad are Aurors, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, but they’re nice about it. They don’t talk about the really bad stuff that they see. I asked Daddy about it once and he said that he would tell me about it when I was grown up enough to understand.”

“Did your grandpa really meet Voldemort?”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t talk about it much. He says that everything that we need to know is in history books.”

Emma watched as an older girl stepped out of a shower and then Ashanti rose to hurry to it. Her own shower would start soon enough but the conversation had made her wonder about things. What had happened between her grandfather and Voldemort? Everyone knew that they had dueled and that the dark wizard had been killed, but what had really happened?

A minute later she was under the warm water of a shower as she washed her hair and then bathed. It felt wonderful, especially on the spot where she had gotten hurt, but they didn’t have long to linger. There were other girls that needed to get ready and a small clock kept track of the time so everyone got a chance to get clean. She finished and then used her towel to dry before leaving the stall and going to another where she could dress in robes that were already waiting for her. Her hair was soon combed and in her customary ponytail before her hurried to join her waiting friend.

“Let’s go, I’m starving,” Ashanti announced as they made their way back to the dorm to retrieve their books.

Sebastian and his friends were also preparing and he stepped into the common room in time to see the portrait close behind his sister. She had beaten him once again. Sometimes he felt that the only time in their lives that he had ever been able to beat Emma was when they were born. She had followed him by only minutes and now he was spending his time following her lead.

The girls joined other Gryffindors as they walked down the many stairs before merging into the mass of students from other Houses also walking to the morning meal. Chatter sounded through the ancient hallways which had seen many mornings such as this and would see many more.

Sebastian searched the crowd with his eyes and had just found his sister when she disappeared amid the multitude. She never seemed to want to dawdle about anything and this was a habit that he knew that he needed to emulate. Although his marks were good hers were better and this was creating a bit of tension between the twins.

His friends caught up with him and they began their own trip down to the Great Hall.

Adelaide had already arrived and was seated when Emma and Ashanti entered the large chamber and made their way to the places where they habitually sat. Potter would be back in class today and this made the girl angry. She had been incredibly happy during the absence of the other girl and hoped that the next time that an accident occurred that Emma Potter would not be returning to school.

Abraxas noted his sister’s gaze and followed it with his own. Clearly Adelaide had her attention centered on Emma Potter and he wondered what was going through her mind. As much as he sometimes disliked his sister he really did not want to see her do something which might get her expelled from Hogwarts. The large school made it terrible to be alone. She was one of the few that saw things the way that he did and if she was forced to leave he knew that he would soon follow. His parents, grandfather and great-grandfather would have it no other way.

The morning meal appeared before the students just as Sebastian and the group that he was with appeared at the doorway. The cluster of boys stopped short when they caught the disapproving glance that Professor McGonagall sent their way and wondered just how many lines they would have to write and if they had cost Gryffindor any points.

Sheepishly they approached the table that had spaces for them and were openly dismayed when it was the one closest to the High Table where the staff sat. This did not bode well for them and they realized that likely this was going to be their assigned seats until the professors were satisfied that the message against tardiness got through.

Emma glanced down the table at her sibling and then shook her head.

“He is going to get into so much trouble with our mom,” she remarked to Ashanti.

“At least you won’t, you were here on time. Do you think that Gryffindor will lose points for it?”

Emma looked at the other girl with widened eyes. She had not thought of that possible message being sent to the late students. Certainly any one of the professors at the table could take points with the most likely being either Professor McGonagall or her mother. The girl stole a look up at Professor Elizabeth Potter and could read the displeasure that she was sending in a glare to her male offpring.

“I don’t know about Professor McGonagall, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Professor Potter would take points. She looks absolutely livid.”

The dark skinned girl shook her head and then returned to her meal. Emma was her best friend but she wondered how the girl could possibly be related to Sebastian. The boy had a tendency to be tardy and she knew that a lot of it could be traced to the group of boys that he hung around with. A look at Emma showed her that her friend was doing her best to ignore her brother. The girl was busy eating her meal in preparation for the coming day.

Adelaide looked at the angered glares that the staff was sending to the group of boys that had entered the Great Hall late. No points had yet been taken from Gryffindor and this irritated the girl highly. Had the boys been from Slytherin she had no doubt that the loss of points would have been immediate and severe. But since they were Gryffindor and one of them was the son of a professor it appeared that they were going to get away with it.

Around the enormous room other students were watching this as well. Surely there would be a reprisal for the tardiness that had occurred. Feathers were ruffled at all of the tables not occupied by Gryffindor students and malcontent was beginning to grow when a noise alerted them to the fact that five points had been taken for each boy. All eyes went to the High Table and students were stunned when it was Professor Potter who was laying her wand back onto the table.

The remainder of the meal went swiftly and the students were soon rising to walk to their first class. Adelaide grinned as she thought about what had happened.

“I guess that the high and mighty Gryffindors got what they deserved. I’m just surprised that it was Professor Potter that took the points,” she remarked to another first year Slytherin girl. “One of them will probably go crying to Leeds and convince him to give them back. They’re all a bunch of crybabies.”

The other girl rolled her eyes at the comment and then did her best to leave the company that she was in. Adelaide scowled at this and, without thinking, reached into her robes to finger her wand gently. She was startled when a voice admonished her.

“I told you before, now is not the time. You need to be more prepared than you are before teaching them a lesson that they need to learn.”

She turned to see who had spoken to her and expected to see a Prefect standing there in preparation to take points from her. But the only people in evidence were those students who had been behind her in leaving the room.

Adelaide was getting angry because someone was toying with her. The problem was that in a school for the education of young witches and wizards it could be just about anyone. Even the members of the staff were potentially responsible. Laughter caught her attention and she turned to see Professors McGonagall and Potter walking side by side just a short distance behind her. They were carrying on a conversation that seemed to be rather lively and she was almost certain that they were watching her, possibly to see her reaction to what was happening.

Potter was the one, she was certain of it, the professor was tormenting her just for the fun of it and there really was not much that she could do about it. As they walked, and the conversation behind her continued, Adelaide was giving more and more thought to lashing out at the pair of witches. She knew that the only advantage that she would have was that they would not expect an attack to come from a first year student.

The conversation behind them ended abruptly as Professor Potter turned to go a different route. She was headed in the direction of her classroom while McGonagall was following the first years to the one that she taught in.

“Students,” she announced suddenly, “we shall be meeting in the rainforest this morning. I have something planned that I believe that you shall enjoy.”

Joyous sounds erupted from the students as they looked forward to going into the favored learning environment.

Emma and Ashanti gleamed at the prospect that was being provided.

“Emma, does your mom have anything like the rainforest at your house?”

“Actually, yes she does. When she was a student here she was given a box where she could work in private. Only her magic really works in there. She told me once that she made a rainforest in there a long time before the one in here. Sebastian and I used to like to go in there and play. You can’t get hurt or lost in there so she decided to use it when she and Dad started teaching us magic.”

“What type of box?”

“It’s small, small enough that you would think that only a few fingers would fit inside through the door, but you can go inside it. When you’re in, there are all sorts of rooms.”

“Rooms?”

“Yeah, like a library, a potions work area, a kitchen and bedroom and, of course, the rainforest. She says that she used to use it a lot when she was going to school. Tiger likes to go in there, except when it rains. He might be a Kneazle instead of a cat but he still hates water.”

The group arrived at the Transfiguration classroom door and then entered. McGonagall turned to the excited students and then spoke once again.

“You will not need your books or your wands. In short, all that you need to bring is yourself. I shall need to see your wands placed on your desk before I can allow you to enter.”

Even at their young age, the student witches and wizards hated to be separated from their wands having become bonded to them. Reluctantly the students drew their wands and then placed them onto their desks. McGonagall watched carefully and allowed them into the next room one at a time.

Adelaide stood back and watched as the other students carefully laid their wands down. Finally, she was the last one remaining in the room and McGonagall gave her the look that was reserved for students that were not following directions.

“Miss Malfoy, you are the last person remaining. I need you to put your wand on your desk and enter this other room. Do not be concerned that someone might take your wand, an enchantment has been placed that will allow only you to pick it up. Now, place your wand on your desk or remove yourself to Headmaster Leeds office, you have exactly one minute to decide on your course of action. Do not make me decide for you.”

“You would like that, wouldn’t you? I heard you and Professor Potter talking behind me and laughing. You are the ones that are making me think that I am hearing voices. I am going to Professor Leeds and complaining about both of you. I want him to sack you both!”

“I am not certain what you think that you heard, but I assure you that it had only a small amount to do with you and not personally. As you have decided to go to Headmaster Leeds I ask you to leave and make your way to his office. I doubt very much that you are going to get any satisfaction from it.”

Adelaide looked up into the face of the adult and then turned on her heel to walk out of the classroom. She was angry beyond belief and the fact that she was facing very likely punishment infuriated her more. The idea that she felt that she was being wronged strengthened her resolve and she lifted her head as she walked up the many stairs to the office of Headmaster Tobias Leeds.

Emma looked around as she and her classmates entered the rainforest. Around her the sounds of glee were emanating from the throats of the class as they took in her surroundings. The children were just starting to settle down and Professor McGonagall was entering the room when a low roar sounded from somewhere in the seemingly vast area. Minerva McGonagall found herself instantly surrounded by first years with wide open eyes.

“Professor,” Emma managed to squeak through trembling lips. “What made that noise?”

“Oh, you all shall see very soon,” the witch answered as she fought valiantly to hold back a smile. “Professor Potter has been very busy in the creation of this new inhabitant of the rainforest.”

“It sounds enormous,” a girl from Slytherin announced.

“Does it eat children?”

McGonagall looked at the quivering boy from Hufflepuff and smiled.

“It eats a great many things but children are not among the things on its preferred diet.”

Another roar sounded and students huddled closer together as they sought comfort by proximity to the professor.

All turned in alarm as the sound of something enormous approaching them through the underbrush reached their ears. They could see the movement of branches and leaves made by its passage and all looked upward expecting to see something towering over the large trees as it neared them.

“Emma, Sebastian, what did your mother make?” Ashanti asked as her nerves neared the breaking point.

“I don’t know,” the twins answered almost as one.

“Here it comes,” a girl from Ravenclaw shrieked as she spotted something moving among the leaves.

All eyes turned in the direction that she was pointing and children recoiled as a large form suddenly emerged to approach them with a less intense roar. It stretched its long neck and enormous wings while its long tail moved gently behind it.

“It’s a dragon,” a child cried out as the others in the class sought their voices while they looked at the creature.

“Are you sure?”

All students managed to look up at Professor McGonagall, who had finally lost her battle with a smile.

“It looks like one,” another student answered. “But I have never seen one with pink fur.”

The fright of the children abated some as they realized that what their classmate was saying was true. Before them an enormous dragon stood proudly before it turned its head and began to groom the long pink fur that covered its body. Large kindly looking brown eyes looked at the students when it turned back to them.

It raised its head once more before emitting the low roar that they had heard before. Then it settled down onto the ground before them in the way that a cat might as it waited to be petted. McGonagall smiled down at the children and then spoke finally.

“There are many species of dragons here within the rainforest, but this is the largest of them. It is quite harmless, in keeping with the vow that Professor Elizabeth Blackwell-Potter made when she created this place many years ago. No harm will come to you from anything here.”

“It looks like an animal that wants to be petted,” a Slytherin boy stated as he took the plunge and stepped forward before running his fingers over some of the fur. In response the great beast relaxed and closed its eyes with contentment.

Children, losing their fear quickly, hurried forward to join their classmate in stroking the soft fur. Soon they were brave enough that, at McGonagall’s encouragement they were sitting on the ground and leaning back against the beast as the reveled in the soft warmness.

Adelaide knew nothing about all of this and had, after some dawdling, arrived at her destination. She was about to knock on the door when it opened widely in front of her.

“Miss Malfoy,” Leeds’ voice announced from within the chamber beyond the door, “I have been expecting you. Please do come it and have a seat. We have, I fear, a great deal to discuss and you shall need to be prepared to defend your actions here at Hogwarts.”

The girl swallowed hard and then stepped into the room. The door closed behind her and she looked around the room to find the headmaster sitting behind his desk watching her. A chair suddenly appeared in front of the desk and she slowly approached it, climbing the three stairs to arrive next to it. Leeds watched her as she settled down onto the chair that waited for her. Only once she was seated did the wizard behind the desk speak to her once again.

“I understand that you have some sort of problem with Professors McGonagall and Potter, not to mention some difficulty with Professor Flitwick. Please explain to me the theory that you have concerning the first two and why you are exhibiting problems in the classroom of the third.”

“Why should I?” she countered. “No matter what I say you are going to take their side. It all has to do with my name! I’m a Malfoy and therefore all of them dislike me. They had that decided before I even set foot on the Hogwarts Express and were not going to give me a chance.”

“And were you prepared to give them a chance? Miss Malfoy, it may interest you to know that you are not here to be expelled. You are not here to be suspended or placed in detention. As a matter of fact, you are only here because they are concerned about you. All three of the professors that you have named in your complaint have approached me about you and the difficulties that you seem to be having.”

“Which is exactly why I know that they all dislike me, especially Professor Potter! It doesn’t matter what I do, whether it’s good or bad, because she will find fault with it. But her kids can do whatever they want and get away with it.”

“Quite the contrary, Miss Malfoy. It was Professor Potter that meted out the most severe punishment when her children broke rules here at Hogwarts. She demanded more punishment than had originally been given to them. I witnessed this personally.”

“But she…”

“Has not been given a chance by you to prove what an exemplary professor she is,” Leeds finished. “You arrived on the Hogwarts Express with an already set mind on the fact that you were going to dislike her. I am afraid that much of it likely has to do with the fact that your brother was disciplined by her during the last term. A punishment that he more than deserved I might add.”

“But she hates me because I am a Malfoy.”

“Professor Potter has had her share of difficulty with your family, I will admit that, but promised that you would be treated no differently than any other student under her charge. If you observe carefully, you will find that she is less likely to discipline other students than she is Sebastian or Emma.”

“And when the body-bind was placed on me in the Great Hall by Professor Flitwick, what about that?”

“You were perilously close to doing something that would have gotten you in a great deal of trouble. While I do admit that keeping you in that position was a bit much, it is far less punishment than you would have gotten should you have done what you intended to. You should actually consider thanking Professor Flitwick for not making the discipline more severe. He could have done so had he decided to.”

Adelaide was confused, her mind was spinning and desperately trying to gather what was happening. A picture was emerging and she was not certain how to take it. She was not in trouble, the professors in question had not taken points from Slytherin and it almost sounded like they wanted to help her.

“Professor Leeds, are you saying that they want to help me?”

“More than anything, Miss Malfoy. But your difficult attitude must change. Professor Potter is very forgiving and charitable. More than one person has faced a great deal of trouble here at Hogwarts and escaped it only because she pled on their behalf, you father and cousins are among them. You would do well to mend your ways because she is always willing to help.”

“Professors McGonagall and Flitwick are also willing to help if you will let them, but you need to be prepared to give a little if you want them to. In short, Miss Malfoy, if you are willing to let them help you and show them some courtesy, all three will be among your staunchest allies. Anger them and the results will be less than pleasant.”

The girl looked at the professor numbly and then nodded quietly. Leeds smiled at her and then spoke once again.

“Miss Malfoy, you are free to go to your next class as I am afraid that we have expended the time that you would have spent in Transfiguration. Unfortunately you have missed out on a wonderful class but, if you ask them nicely, I am certain that Professors McGonagall and Potter will extend an opportunity to you to experience what your classmates have.”

Adelaide rose from the chair and then spoke.

“Thank you, Professor Leeds.”

He watched as the girl turned and then walked out of the office before turning back to the parchment that needed his signature. Adelaide stepped out through the once again open door to make her way to her next class.

Neither of the pair heard the growl of irritation that sounded in the office just as Adelaide did not hear the voice that sounded in the shadows.

_‘You do not wish to take a different path, Adelaide. It would be most unfortunate for you if you do!’_


	9. Family Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian finds himself in a great deal of trouble and now it begins to effect his sister.

“Sebastian Augustus Potter!”

The class stopped what it was doing immediately as Professor Elizabeth Potter left the lectern that she had been proctoring the class from to approach her son. The boy looked up at his mother as she approached him and knew from the expression on his parent’s face that he was in for some severe punishment. Elizabeth arrived at the desk where her offspring was seated and then looked down at him with an expression that rivaled that that Professor McGonagall reserved for those that tested her patience in class.

“And just what were you doing, Mister Potter?”

“Nothing, Professor Potter,” the boy stammered.

“Nothing?” she countered. “We are taking an exam, not sightseeing. Your attention seemed to be totally riveted to the parchment of your classmate. I have been watching your progress for some time and have noted that you both seem to be moving at the same pace. When one of you turns the page the other one does as well. I would venture to guess that you both likely have exactly the same answers on all of the questions.”

Sebastian looked up at his mother again as she reached out to take both parchments. Her practiced eyes scanned the responses given and then she shook her head with irritation before speaking.

“I shall require both of you to remain after class so that we may discuss this issue. Until then you may open your texts to the assignment on the board.”

“Do we get our parchments back so that we may finish?”

Elizabeth looked down at the other student and then spoke.

“Mister Finnegan, you shall be receiving a parchment to complete, but it shall not be this one. I happen to know your grandfather as do some of the other professors here at Hogwarts and I doubt very much that he would approve of your activities.”

The angered professor looked around her classroom at the remainder of her students and then spoke again.

“You all have something to do besides watch me. The clock is not patient and neither am I! Students that are working on the exams have only fifteen minutes remaining to complete it. Those that are not may read the assignment that is on the board.”

The boys in question could only watch as the enraged professor turned and walked, with their parchments in hand, back to her lectern. As she reached her former position she laid their parchments onto the lectern’s surface and watched as they suddenly vanished. Returning their attention to the assigned reading passage both of them realized that they were in severe trouble. When the clock in the tower rang to indicate the change of classes the parchments that still lay before students vanished.

“You may leave,” Professor Potter announced as she sat down behind her desk to begin examining the parchments that had just appeared in front of her.

Sebastian, knowing that his mother was incredibly angry with him, left the side of the other boy to approach the desk at the front of the room. He stood in front of it silently for a moment and then took in a deep breath before speaking.

“I’m really sorry, Mom.”

Elizabeth continued her task and did not respond to her son, but the boy could tell that she was listening.

“I should have studied but I didn’t. I got too involved in a game of Wizard’s Chest last night and by the time that it was over there was no time left before we had to go to bed. Cheating was wrong and I know it and I just hope that my apology will help.”

There was still no response from his mother and the boy turned to walk out of the classroom. He paused long enough to gather his things from the desk that he had occupied and was nearly to the door when he stopped at the sound of her voice.

“Sebastian, look at me,” she said quietly.

He turned slowly expecting to see an enraged professor and instead saw a heartbroken parent.

“Yes, Mom.”

“Sebastian, I knew years ago after I accepted this post that this day might come. I should have made certain that everyone was ready for that exam, in fact I thought that I had. You were asked before starting the exam if anyone had any questions and yet you stayed silent. Instead of asking for the help that you knew that I would offer you chose to cheat. This angers me as a professor and upsets me as your mother because I know that you were raised better than that. Although I can accept your apology I cannot and will not accept your behavior. It would be unfair to the students who are not my child and I will not be put into the position of dealing with misbehavior in class.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“When you arrive in the Great Hall for the mid-day meal you will notice that Gryffindor is down one hundred points. I took fifty for each of you. Does this make me happy? No. Because in my heart I am still a Gryffindor. But I will not tolerate what you and Mister Finnegan have done and you can expect to be speaking with Headmaster Leeds. You can also both expect that you will not be permitted to retake that exam because that mark shall go into my register as a failure. Should you decide to repeat that activity in the future I can make certain that you fail for the term in this class. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Very well, you may leave to go to the Great Hall.”

Sebastian turned and hurried from the room with tears in his eyes. Had he looked back at his mother he would have seen that she too was weeping.

As the boy walked towards his destination he knew very well that what his mother had told him would happen. Headmaster Leeds would be meeting with him, as well as Brian. Punishment was insured and he knew that very likely the hourglass for Gryffindor was already displaying the loss of one hundred points.

 _“You should have been more careful, Sebastian,”_ an unfamiliar voice said to him although he was alone. _“The professors at Hogwarts are known to deal unfairly with those that displease them.”_

He turned around to see who had snuck up behind him and was stunned that he was truly alone. There was no one in sight and this made him concerned. Who had spoken to him? He hadn’t recognized the voice.

Shaking his head in confusion, the boy continued on his way and soon arrived in a Great Hall where the Gryffindor tables were in a state of outrage. All eyes seemed to zero in on him as he entered the huge chamber and he knew that one of the first years that had been in class with him had already told all about what had occurred in his mother’s classroom. Brian looked crestfallen as he sat at a place at the tables and a glance at the hourglass told Sebastian that the points had already been extracted.

“Way to go, Potter,” a seventh year growled as Sebastian passed where the older boy was seated. “You and Finnegan managed to erase almost all of the points that we got for beating Hufflepuff in the Quidditch match. I don’t think that you want to do it again because no one is very happy with either of you, no one at this table anyhow.”

Sebastian walked quietly to his place and noticed that none of the students from his house were happy to see him. From the way that Brian was acting, the boy noted, he had received a similar reception. He settled down at his seat and was suddenly addressed by his sister.

“What were you thinking, Sebastian? The whole House knows and probably the rest of the school too. Mom looked really angry when she walked in ahead of you.”

Sebastian turned to see that his mother had indeed arrived and was already seated.

“How did she get here before me? She was still sitting behind her desk when I saw her last.”

“She came in about the same time that Headmaster Leeds did. My guess is that he apparated in and she came with him.”

The boy looked up at the headmaster to see that he too looked incredibly angry.

“No one wants to talk to you right now, Sebastian. The only reason that I am is that I am your sister. You made all of Gryffindor look bad, but especially our year.”

“Your attention please,” a voice suddenly boomed out over the room.

Eyes turned to the lectern to see that Headmaster Tobias Leeds had arrived at it and was surveying his students.

“As all of you are no doubt aware, given the rumor hotline that seems to exist in this school, a serious event has taken place in the classroom of Professor Potter. This event has cost Gryffindor one hundred points and there shall be more punishment coming for those involved. Activities such as that which has taken place will not be permitted and shall be dealt with accordingly. To that end, I need to inform all that were not a part of that event that the talk about it and thoughts of taking matters into your own hands will cease immediately. As none of you sitting here have yet to be named as professor you do not have the authority to tend to the matter. Prefects who use their authority to deal with these students shall lose their position immediately and do not believe that I need to see it personally or that it has to wait for me to remove you from your post. Any professor sitting here at this table has the authority and power to take your badge and deal with you in any manner that they wish.”

Frenzied whispering broke out around the room as this information was relayed. It ceased when he continued speaking.

“The two students who were involved shall report to my office immediately once we are finished with our meal.”

Leeds turned and walked away from the lectern as containers of food appeared on the tables in front of the students. Sebastian looked up at his mother again to see that she was involved in a conversation with Professor McGonagall.

He placed food on his plate and tried to eat but found that his appetite had abandoned him. All that he could do was to sit quietly and wait for the time at the tables to come to an end before rising and walking out of the room. Sebastian walked quietly among the other students as they made their way to class and soon parted ways with them to journey to the office that he sought.

“We’re in for it, aren’t we?” a voice announced from beside him.

He turned to see his classmate and then nodded mutely.

The door that they sought was open when they arrived and they entered to find the wizard sitting behind his desk. A pair of chairs sat before that desk.

“Please take a seat gentlemen.”

Sebastian took a deep breath as he sat down and then heard the door that they had passed through go closed. It was only them that Tobias Leeds spoke.

“Mister Potter, Mister Finnegan, you both have managed to place your professor, your House and school and yourselves in an incredibly bad position. I have known Professor Potter since her time here at Hogwarts as a third year and never before have I ever seen her as angry as I have today. She is, in my opinion, one of the most understanding of staff members here at Hogwarts and your actions have strained that understanding. She sat in her classroom after you left and cried as she knew what steps would be taken because of your dishonesty.”

“You have both failed the exam that you chose to cheat on and there will be no chance to retake it. As a professor here she has the final decision on whether or not to allow you a chance at redemption and she has declined to offer it to you. Your exam parchments shall be entered into your records as a permanent part of them. Professor Potter has also asked that, until a week from now, you not be permitted back into class. You shall take the required classes here, with me.”

“She doesn’t want us back for a week?” Sebastian asked in disbelief.

“Mister Potter, you have dealt severe damage to the trust that she had in you. Yours is a particularly upsetting situation given the relationship that you have with her. While I am certain that that relationship remains intact, I cannot see it being otherwise, I believe that class with her shall be strained for a length of time. You are both going to need to earn her trust again. But that now brings us to your punishment. While Gryffindor has lost points for your misdeed, Professor Potter has decided that to punish the entire House is unfair and has restored those points. You both shall be required to write an essay on the value of honesty in class, this essay shall be two pages in length on both sides and shall be submitted to Professor Potter. If she accepts them she will forward them to me to be added to your record. If she does not you shall be forced to redo them. These essays shall be completed in the Isolation Tower and you shall be quartered there until they are completed and accepted. You shall be permitted to eat in the Great Hall and at the tables of Gryffindor House, but once the meals are finished you shall be required to return to the tower.”

The professor stopped to allow this to sink in before he continued.

“This punishment was most difficult for Professor Potter to levy. She has terrible memories of her time here and the times that she spent in isolation within that tower. There is also the fact that she lost a very good friend within that place. When you leave this office you shall find a Prefect waiting for you to escort you to the tower. Everything that you shall need has been provided and the professors have agreed to send your work to that place so that you do not get behind in your studies.”

“Do you mean that we aren’t permitted to go to any class until the essay is completed?” Brian asked.

“That is correct, Mister Finnegan, neither of you are permitted in any classroom until the required essay has been accepted. Your family has already been sent an owl explaining your punishment and the reason for it. They have been told everything.”

The boys sat quietly until they were addressed again.

“You may leave now, I sincerely hope that you learn something from this experience. I shall warn you that if you have not, and you do anything as serious as this again, that consideration shall be given to your immediate expulsion from this school for the remainder of the term. After that your fate would be decided on an individual basis.”

Sebastian and his companion rose silently and then walked out of the office to find the promised Prefect waiting for them. The girl from Slytherin walked silently with them as they passed through corridors and then down sets of stairs until they finally stopped at a door that neither of them had ever seen opened. It opened quietly and she stepped aside before speaking for the only time.

“Once you go through the door it will only open when it is time for you to go to the Great Hall for meals. It will open for you to reenter once you have returned from that place. You will find your things waiting for you in bedrooms inside.”

She watched as they entered the room and then as the door closed behind them, only then did she walk away to return to her other duties.

Sebastian and Brian walked down a short hallway to emerge into a large room that they knew must be a common room. Already a fire was burning in the hearth and the room was lit. Another short hallway bore a number of doors but only two were open. Walking to those doors they could see their names on the doors and knew that this was where they would sleep. Returning to the common room they could see another door which opened into what could only be a library.

Sebastian remembered the stories that his mother and father had told he and his sister about this place and how sad his mother looked when talking about the library. It had been in this very room where she, his aunt Lily and two other girls had been attacked by dark wizards. One of his mother’s friends, Emma Barker, had died in that attack.

They turned and walked back to the common room to the table that waited there. Already their books and parchments from each professor waited for them. They also found blank parchment, neatly stacked, waiting for their use. Knowing that they had nothing else but time both boys sat down to begin writing the essay that each hoped would be accepted and earn them a return to the company of their schoolmates.

Emma sat quietly in Professor Flitwick’s classroom while she looked at the place where her sibling would have been sitting. The girl, although she often had sibling spats with Sebastian, missed his presence and hoped that he would return soon.

_“Missing him already, are you?”_

Emma turned to see who had spoken to her and found no one. The girl that normally sat there was out sick and the one beyond that seemed more than involved in her classwork. No one sat behind her, her back was to the wall and she would have seen the girl sitting in front and to the side of her if she had turned around to speak. So just who had spoken to her?

_“It wasn’t fair, the punishment that he received for what he did. Haven’t you noticed that the professors like to mete out punishment for nothing?”_

She was trying to determine who was talking to her when a voice directly addressed her.

“Miss Potter, is there a problem?”

Her attention returned to see Professor Flitwick glaring at her.

“No, Professor Flitwick, I was just a bit distracted. It won’t happen again.”

“Well, it had better not or you might find yourself sharing accommodations with you brother and Mister Finnegan. Get back to your studies please.”

Emma Potter nodded her head furiously and then went back to work. While she worked she wondered who had spoken to her and what they had meant.

Adelaide looked across the room to gaze at the other girl. She had almost smiled when Flitwick had dressed the Gryffindor down in front of the class.

_‘Maybe she will do something else and get sent to isolation with her dear brother.’_

Filius Flitwick watched as the Potter girl returned to work and he was confused. Emma Potter might have been the twin of Sebastian but she was definitely not like him. The girl reminded him of her mother and not only in appearance. Excellent in her studies and nearly above reproach in her behavior, Emma was a student that he wished that he had more of in class. She was normally attentive in class and her behavior today did not seem disruptive in intent but rather the girl had seemed confused about something and had appeared to be trying to determine what was going on around her.

 _‘Perhaps I should speak to her after class,_ ’ he thought. _‘I would not want to see her in trouble needlessly. There are too few like her to let that happen.’_

The chiming of the bells in the tower caught him off guard and Emma was walking out through the door with the rest of her class before he could reach her. He could only watch as she disappeared into the corridor and make up his mind to speak to her later.

He turned wearily as the class of fourth years walked in and prepared to teach yet another class in his long tenure at the school.

Emma walked quietly towards her Defense against the Dark Arts class. The girl was confused as well as a bit frightened. Who had spoken to her in class and what had they wanted?

Emma Victoria Potter began to climb the steps to the classroom determined to find out just who was responsible and what their motivations were.

Then she would decide what she would try to do about it.


End file.
